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GENEALCC-Y COLLECTIOM 



DORSET nATUKfll: HISTORY 



flnTIQQiKWn FIELD gHB. 



EDITED BY 



HENRY SYMONDS. 



VOLUME XXXIV. 



Dorchester : 

PRINTED AT THE "DORSET COUNTY CHRONICLE" OFFICE. 

1913 



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1413083 



CONTENTS. 



List of Officers of the Club since its Inauguration 
Rules of the Club 

List of Officers and Honorary Members . . 
List of Members 

List of New Members since the publication of Vol. XXXIII. 
Publications of the Club ; Societies and Institutions in Corres- 
pondence with the Field Club 

The Proceedings of the Club from May, 1912, to May, 1913 — 

Meeting at Beatjlieu . . 
Buckler's Hard 
Beaulieu Abbey 

Meeting at Maelbobough 
The School 
Avebury Church 

The Temple of Avebury. — The Excavations 
Silbi.u'y . . 

Knowle Chapel and Gravel Pits 
Froxfield Almshouses 
Littlecote Hall 
Ramsbury 

The Intended Meeting in the Cebne Valley 

Meeting at the Upper Yeo Valley 
Trent Church 
Wyke Grange 
Bradford Abbas Church 
Clifton Maybank 
Newton Surmaville . . 

Meeting at the Cebne Valley 
Cerne Abbas 
Minterne and Upcerne 

First Winter Meeting 

Second Winter Meeting 

Annual Meeting 
The Hon. Treasurer's Statement of the Club's Receipts and Expen- 

ditvu-e 
The Hon. Secretary's Account 

Anniversary Address of the President 

Scando-Gothic Art in Wessex, by H. Colley March, M.D., F.S.A. . . 

Dorset Assizes in the Seventeenth Century, by F. J. Pope, 
F.R.Hist.S. .. •• •• „ ■• 

The Ancient Earthworks of Cranbome Chase, by Heywood 
Sumner, F.S.A. . . . • ",; j ' " 

A Reminiscence of the late Rev. C. W. H. Dicker, R.D., and soino 
Observations on Bloxworth Church, by the Rev. O. 
Pickard-Cambridge, M.A., F.R.S. ,,••-„ , ],' 

Second Supplement to the Lepidoptera of tlie Isle of Furbeck, 
compiled from the Notes of Eustace R. Bankes. M.A., 
F E.S., by Nelson M. Richardson, B.A. .. •■ 

Interim Report on the Excavations at Maumbury Ring.s, Dor- 
chester, 1912, by H. St. George Gray ,,••.. ,„•• 

On New and Rare British Arachnida, noted and observed in I.W.. 
by the Rev. O. Pickard-Cambndge. M..A.. F.R.5>. 



xu. 

XXV. 



xxvii. 
xxviii. 
xxviii. 

xxx. 

XXX. 

xxx. 
xxxi. 
xxxii. 
xxxiii. 
xxxiii. 
xxxiv. 
xxxiv. 

XXXV. 

xxxvi. 

xxxvi. 

xxxvi. 
xxxvii. 
xxxvii. 
xxxvii. 

xxxix. 

xl. 
xli. 

xlii. 

xlvii. 

xliN. 



liv. 
Iv. 

Ivi. 
I 

17 
31 

41 

44 
HI 



PAGE 

Dorset Weather Lore, by J. S. Udal, F.S.A. .. .. 137 

Sherborne Brewers in 1383 (6 Richard II. ), by E. A. Fry . . 151 

The Ancient Memorial Brasses of Dorset, by W. de C. Prideaux, 

L.D.S., Eng., F.R.S.M. .. .. .. 158 

The Marriage of St. Cuthburga, who was afterwards Foundress of 
the Monastery at Winiborne, by the Rev. Canon J. M. J. 
Fletcher, M.A. and R.D. . . . . . . 167 

Returns of Rainfall in Dorset in 1912, by R. Stevenson Henshaw, 

C.E. .. .. .. .. .. 186 

Phenological Report on First Appearances of Birds, Insects, &c., 
and First Flowering of Plants in Dorset during 1912, by 
Nelson M. Richardson, B.A. . . . . . . 200 

Roman Villas discovered in Dorset. Their Sites and the Relics 
found therein which throw light upon the Civil Life of 
their occupants, by the Rev. Canon T. E. Usherwood, 
M.A. .. .. .. .. .. 216 

Index to Volume XXXIV. .. .. .. .. 237 



INDEX TO PLATES AND ENGRAVINGS. 



PAGE OB TO 
FACE PAGE. 

Newton Surniaville, Yeovil . . . . . . . . xxxviii. 

Scando-Gothic Art in Wessex — 

Plate A and B . . . . . . . . 3 

Plate C and D . . . . . . . . 9 

Plate E . . . . . . . . . . 14 

The Ancient Earthworks of Cranborne Chase — 

Badbury Rings . . . . . . . . 39 

Buzbury Rings . . . . . . . . 39 

British Settlement on South Tarrant Hinton Down . . 39 

Knowlton Earthworks . . . . . . . . 39 

Bloxworth Church — Doorway and Font . . . . . . 42 

Interim Report on the Excavations at Maumbury Rings, Dor- 
chester, 1912 — 
Plate I. 
Plate II. 
Fig. 1 
Plate III. 
Fig. 2 
Plate IV. 
Plate V. 

On New and Rare British Arachnida — 

Plate A . . . . . . . . . . 107 

Tlie Ancient Memorial Brasses of Dorset — 

George Burges, 1640, Wareham ; Ann Franke, 1583, Wareham 159 
Wilham Perkins, 1613, Wareham ; Richard Perkins, 1616, 

Wareham . . . . . . . . 160 

Mary Argenton, 1616, Woo Hand .. .. .' .' 161 

Dorothy Williams, 1694, Pimperne .. .. .. 162 

Thomas Pethyn, c. 1470, Lytchett Matravers ; Margaret 

Clement, 1505, Lytchett Matravers .. .. 163 

John Clavell, Esq., and two wives, 1609, Church Knowle . . 165 



81 
93 
94 
95 
98 
101 
103 



Ubc Dorset 
IRatural Ibistor^ ant> Hntiquarian jfiel& Club. 



Inauqubated Maech 26th, 1875. 

Presidents : 
1875-1902— J. C. Mansel-Pleydell, Esq., B.A., F.G.S. F L S 
1902-1904— The Lord Eustace Cecil, F.R.G.S. 
1904 * Nelson M. Richardsou, Esq., B.A. 

Vice-Presidents : 
1875-1882— The Rev. H. H. Wood, M.A., F.G.S. 
1875-1884— Professor James Buckman, F.S.A., F.G.S., F.L S 
1880-1900— The Rev. Cauon Sir Talbot Baker, Bart., M.A. 
1880-1900— General Pitt-Rivers, F.R.S. 

1880 * The Rev. O. Pickard-Cambridge, M.A., F.R.S., F.Z S 

1885 * The Earl of Moray, M.A., F.S.A. Scot., F.G.S. 

1892-1904— Nelson M. Richardsou, Esq., B.A. 

1904"^^*^^ ( * ^^^ ^'^^^ Eustace Cecil, F.R.G.S. 

1900-1909— W. H. Hudleston, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., F.G.S., F.L.S., Past Pres. 

Geol. fSoc. 
1900-1904— Vaughan Cornish, Esq., D.Sc, F.C.S., F.R.G.S. 
1900 * Captain G. R. Elwes. 

1902 * H. Colley March, Esq., M.D., F.S.A. 

1904 * The Rev. Herbert Pentiu, M.A. 

1904 * The Rev. W. Miles Barnes, B.A. 

1904 * The Rev. Canon J. C. M. Mansel-Pleydell, M.A., R.D. 

1904-190S— R. Bosworth Smith, Esq., M.A. 

1908-1909— Henry Storks Eaton, Esq., M.A., Past Pres. Roy. Met. Soc. 
1909 *The Rev. Cauon C. H. Mayo, M.A., Borset Editor of '' Somerset 

and Dorset Notes and Queries.'''' 

1909 * E. R. Sykes, Esq., B.A., F.Z.S., Past Pres. Malacolonical Soc. 
1911-1912— The Rev. C. W. H. Dicker, R.D. 

1912 * Alfred Pope, Esq., F.S.A. 

1913 * Henry Symonds, Esq., F.S.A. 

1913 * His Honour Judge J. S. Udal, F.S.A. 

Hon. Secretaries : 
1875-1884— Professor James Buckman, F.S.A., F.G.S., F.L.S. 
1885-1892— The Earl of Moray, M.A., F.S.A. Scot., F.G.S. 
1892-1902— Nelson M. Richardson, Esq., B.A. 
1902-1904— H. Colley March, Esq., M.D., F.S.A. 
1904 * The Rev. Herbert Peutin, M.A. 

Son. Treasurers : 
1875-1882— The Rev. H. H. Wood, M.A., F.G.S. 
1882-1900— The Rev. O. Pickard-Cambridge, M.A., F.R.S., F.Z.S, 
1901-1910— Captain G. R. Elwes. 

1910 * The Rev. Canon J. C. M. Mansel-Pleydell, M.A., R.D. 

Jlon. Ed'itors : 
1875-1884— Professor James Buckman, F.S.A., F.G.S., F.L.S. 
1885-1892— The Earl of Moray, M.A., F.S.A. Scot., F.G.S. 
1892-1901— Nelson M. Richardson, Esq., B.A. 
1901-1906— The Rev. W. Miles Barnes, B.A. 
1906-1909— The Rev. Herbert Peutin, M.A. 
1909-1912— The Rev. C. W. H. Dicker, R.D, 
1912 * Hemy Symonds, Esq., F.S.A. 



* The asterisk indicates the present officials of the Club. 



VI. 



RULES 

OF 

■HE DORSET NMURfil HISTORY UND UNTIQUflRIAN 
FIELD CLUB. 



Object and Constitution. 

l._The Club shall be called The Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian 
Field Club, and shall have for a short title The Dorset Field Club. 

The object of the Club is to promote and encourage an interest in the study of 
the Physical Sciences and Archaeology generally, especially the Natural History of 
the County of Dorset and its Antiquities, Prehistoric records, and Ethnology. It 
shall use its influence to prevent, as far as possible, the extiipation of rare plants 
and animals, and to promote the preservation of the Antiquities of the County. 

2.— The Club shall consist of (i.) three Officers, President, Honorary Secretary, 
and Honorary Treasurer, who shall be elected annually, and shall form the 
Executive body for its management ; (ii.) Vice-Presidents, of whom the 
Honorary Secretary and Ti-easurer shall be two, ex officio ; (in.) The Honorary 
Editor of the Annual Volume of Proceedings ; (iv.) Ordinary Members ; (v.) 
Honorary Members. The President, Vice-Presidents, and Editor shall form a 
Council to decide questions refeiTod to them by the Executive and to elect 
Honorary Members. The Editor shall be nominated by one of the incoming 
Executive and elected at the Annual Meeting. 

There may also be one or more Honorary Assistant Secretaries, who shall be 
nominated by the Honorary Secretary, seconded by the President or Treasurer, 
and elected by the Members at the Annual Meeting. 

Members may be appointed by the remaining Officers to fill interim vacancies 
in the Executive Body until the following Annual Meeting. 

The number of the Club shall be limited to 400, power being reserved to the 
Council to select from the list of candidates persons, whose membership they may 
consider to be advantageous to the interests of the Club, to be additional 
Members. 

Peesident and Vice-Peesidents. 

3. — The President shall take the chair at all Meetings, and have an original and 
a casting vote on all questions before the Meeting. In addition to the two 
ex-officio Vice-Presidents, at least three others shall be nominated by the President, 
or, in his absence, by the Chairman, and elected at the Annual Meeting. 



Hon. Seceetaey. 

4.— The Secretary shall perform all the usual secretarial work; cause a 
programme of each Meeting to be sent to every Member seven days at least 
before such Meeting ; make all preparations for caixyiug out Meetings and, with 
or without the help of a paid Assistant Secretary or others, conduct all Field 
Meetings. On any question arising between the Secretary (or Acting Secretary) 
and a Member at a Field Meeting, the decision of the Secretary shall be final. 

The Secretary shall receive from each Member his or her share of the day's 
expenses, and thereout defray all incidental costs and charges of the Meeting, 
rendering an account of the same before the Annual Meeting to the Treasurer ; 
any sui-plus of such collection shall form part of the General Fund, and any 
deficit be defrayed out of that Fund. 

Hon. Teeasxjeee. 

5. — The Treasurer shall keep an account of Subscriptions and all other moneys 
of the Club received and of all Disbursements, rendering at the Ainiual General 
Meeting a balance sheet of the same, as well as a general statement of the Club's 
finances. He shall send copies of the Annual Volume of Proceedings for each 
year to Ordinary Members who have paid their subscriptions for that year (as 
nearly as may be possible, in the order of such payment), to Honorary Members, 
and to such Societies and individuals as the Club may, from time to time, appoint 
to receive them. He shall also furnish a list at each Annual Meeting, containing 
the names of all Members in arrear, vnth the amount of their indebtedness to the 
Club. He shall also give notice of theii- election to all Xew Members. 

Oedinaey Membees. 

6. — Ordinary Members are entitled to be present and take part in the Club's 
proceedings at all Meetings, and to receive the published "Proceedings " of the 
Club, when issued, for the year for which then- subscription has been paid. 

7. — Every candidate for admission shall be nominated in %vi'iting by one 
Member and seconded by another, to both of whom he must be personally known. 
He may be proposed at any Meeting, and his name shall appear in the progi-anune 
of the first following Meeting at which a Ballot is held, when he shall be elected 
by ballot, one black ball in six to exclude. Twelve Members shall form a 
quorum for the pui-pose of election. A Ballot shall be held at the Annual and 
Winter Meetings, and may be held at any other Meeting, should the Executive 
so decide, notice being given in the programme. In the event of the number of 
vacancies being less than the number of candidates at four successive Meetings, 
the names of any candidates proposed at the first of such Meetings who have not 
been elected at one of them shall be withdrawn, and shall not be eligible to be 
again proposed for election for at least a year after such withdrawal. Provided 
that if at any Meeting there shall be no vacancies available, it shall not be counted 
in estimating the above named four Meetings. 



8.- The Annual Subscription shall be 10s., which shall become due and 
payable in advance on the 1st of January in each year. Subscriptions paid on 
election after September in each year shall be considered as subscriptions for the 
following year, unless otherwise agreed upon by such Member and the Treasurer. 
Every Member shaU pay immecL'ately after his election the sum of ten shillings as 
Entrance Fee, in addition to his first Annual Subscription. 

9.— No person elected a Member shall be entitled to exercise any privilege as 
such until he has paid his Entrance Fee and fii'st Subscription, and no Member 
shall be entitled to receive a copy of the " Proceedings" for any year until his 
Subscription for that year has been paid. 

10.— A registered letter shall be sent by the Hon. Treasurer to any Member 
whose Subscrij)tion is in arrear at the date of any Annual Meeting, demanding 
payment within 28 days, failing which he shall cease to be a Member of the Club, 
but shall, nevertheless, be liable for the arrears then due. 

11. — Members desii-ing to leave the Club shall give notice of the same in 
writing to the Treasurer (or Secretary), but, unless such notice is given before the 
end of January in any year, they shall be liable to pay the Annual Subscription 
due to the Club on and after January 1st in that year. 

HoNOEAET Members. 
12. — Honorary Members shall consist of persons eminent for scientific or 
natural history attainments, and shall be elected by the Council. They jiay no 
subscription, and have all the privileges of Ordinary Members, except voting. 

Meetings. 

13. — The Annual General Meetmg shall be held as near the fii-st week in May 
as may be convenient ; to receive the outgoing President's Address (if any) and 
the Treasurer's financial report ; to elect the Officers and Editor for the ensuing 
year ; to detennine the number (which shall usually be three or foui-), dates, and 
places of Field Meetings during the ensuing summer, and for general pui-poses. 

14. — Two Winter Meetings shall usually be held in or about the months of 
December and February for the exhibition of Objects of Interest (to which not 
more than one hour of the time before the reading of the Papers shall be 
devoted), for the reading and discussion of Papers, and for general piu-poses. 

The Dates and Places of the Winter and Annual Meetings shall be decided by 
the Executive. 

1.5.— A Member may bring Friends to the Meetings subject to the following 
restrictions: — No person (except the husband, wife, or chdd of a Member), may 
attend the Meeting unaccompanied by the Member introducing him, unless such 
Member be prevented from attending by iUness, and no Member may take with 
biTn to a Field Meeting more than one Friend, whose name and address must be 
submitted to the Hon. Secretary and approved by him or the Executive. 

The above restrictions do not apply to the Executive or to the Acting Secretary 
at the Meetmg. 



IX. 

16.- Members must give due notice (with prepajTnent of expenses) to the Hon. 
Secretary of their intention to be present, with or without a Friend, at any 
Field Meeting, in return for which the Secretary shall send to the Member a card 
of admission to the Meeting, to be produced when required. Any Member who, 
having given such notice, fails to attend, will be liable only for any expenses 
actually incurred on his account, and any balance will be returned to him on 
application. The sum of Is., or such other amount as the Hon. Secretary may 
consider necessary, shall be charged to each person attending a Field Meeting, for 
Incidental Expenses. 

!'•— The Executive may at any time call a Special General Meeting of the 
Members upon their own initiative or upon a written requisition (signed by Eight 
Members) being sent to the Honorary Secretary. Any proposition to be submitted 
shaU be stated in the Notice, which shall be sent to each Member of the Club not 
later than seven days before the Meeting. 

Papers. 

IS. — Notice shall be given to the Secretaiy, a convenient time before each 
Meeting, of any motion to be made or any Paper or communication desii-ed to be 
read, with its title and a short sketch of its scope or contents. The insertion of 
these in the Programme is subject to the consent of the Executive. 

19.— The Publications of the Club shaU be in the hands of the Executive, who 
shall appoint annually Three or more Ordinary Members to form Avith them and 
the Editor a Publication Committee for the pm-pose of deciding upon the contents 
of the Annual Volume. These contents shall consist of original pajjers and 
communications written for the Club, and either read, or accepted as read, at a 
General Meeting ; also of the Secretary's Reports of Meetings, the Treasurer's 
Financial Statement and Balance Sheet, a list to date of all Members of the Club, 
and of those elected in the current or jjrevious year, with the names of their 
proposers and seconders. The Annual Volume shall be edited by the Editor 
subject to the direction of the Publication Committee. 

20. — Twenty -five coijies of his paper shall be presented to each author whose 
communication shall appear in the volume as a sej)arate article, on notice being 
given by hun to the Publisher to that effect. 

The Affiliation of Societies and Libeaeies to the Club. 

21.— Any Natural Histoiy or Antiquarian Society in the County may be 
affiliated to the Dorset Field Club on payment of an annual fee of Ten Sliillings, 
in return for which the annual volume of the Proceedings of the Field Club sJiall 
be sent to such Society. 

Every affiliated Society shall send the programme of its Meetings to the Hon. 
Secretary of the Field Club, and shall also report any discoveries of exceptional 
interest. And the Field Club shall send its programme to the Hon. Secretary of 
each affiliated Society. 



X. 

The Members of the Field Club shall not be eligible, ipso facto, to attend any 
Meetings of affiliated Societies, and the Members of any affiliated Society shall 
not be eligible, ipso facto, to attend any Meetings of the Field Club. But any 
Member of an affiliated Society shall be eligible to read a paper or make an 
exhibit at the "Winter Meetings of the Field Club at Dorchester. 

Any Public Library, or Club or School or College Library, in England or 
elsewhere, may be affiliated to the Dorset Field Club on payment of an annual 
fee of Ten Shillings, in return for which the annual volume of the Proceedings of 
the Field Club shall be sent to such Library. 

Sectional Committees. 

22. — Small Committees may be appointed at the Annual General Meeting to 
report to the Club any interesting facts or discoveries relating to the various 
sections which they represent ; and the Committee of each section may elect one 
of their Members as a Corresponding Secretary. 

New Rdxes. 

23. — No alteration in or addition to these Rules shall be made except with the 
consent of a majority of three-fourths of the Members present at the Annual 
General Meeting, full notice of the proposed alteration or addition having been 
given both in the current Programme and in that of the previous Meeting. 



m 



XI. 

Ube H)orset 
Natural Ibistor^ anO Hntiquarian 3Fiel6 Club. 

INAUGURATED jMAECH 2Gth, 1875. 



President : 
NELSON M. EICHAKDSON, Esq., B.A. 

Vice-Presidents : 

The Lord EUSTACE CECIL, F.R.G.S. (Past President). 

The Rev. HERBERT PEXTIN, M.A. {Hon. Secretary). 

The Rev. Canon MANSEL-PLEYDELL, M.A., R.D. {Hon. Treasurer). 

HENRY SYMONDS, Esq., F.S.A. {Eon. Editor). 

Captain G. R. ELWES, J.P. 

H. COLLEY MARCH, Esq., M.D., F.S.A. 

The Rev. Canon MAYO, M.A. {Dorset Editoi of "Somerset and Dorset Notes 

and Q/ierie.s "). 

The Rev. W. MILES BARNES, B.A. 

The Earl of MORAY, M.A., F.S.A. Scot., F.G.S. 

The Rev. O. PICKARD-CAMBRIDGE, M.A., F.R.S., F.Z.S. 

ALFRED POPE, Esq., F.S.A. 

E. R. SYKES, Esq., B.A., F.Z.S. {Past Pres. Malaeological Society). 

His Honour Judge J. S. UDAL, F.S.A. 

Execniive Body : 

Nelson M. Richardson, Esq., B.A. {President). 

The Rev. Herbert Pentin, M.A. {Hon. Secretary), Milton Abbey Vicarage, 

Bland ford. 

The Rev. Canon Mansel-Pleydell, M.A. {Hon. Treasurer), Sturminster 

Newton Vicarage, Dorset. 

Hon. Editor : 
Henry Symonds, Esq., F.S.A., 30, Bolton Gardens, London, S.W. 

Publication Committee : 

The Executive, The Hon. Editor, H. B. Middleton, Esq., 

Dr. Colley March, and E. R. Sykes, Esq. 

Ho7i. Director of the Dorset Photographic Survey : 
C. J. Coenish-Browne, Esq., Came House, Dorchester. 

Earthtvorks Sectional Committee : 
H. Colley March Esq., M.D., F.S.A. {Chairman). 

Numismatic Sectional Committee : 
Henry Symonds, Esq., F.S.A. {Corresponding Secretary). 

Hojiorary Members : 
O.M. W. Careuthees, Esq., Ph.D., F.R.S., F.G.S., F.L.S., British Museum 
(Nat. Hist.), South Kensington. 

1888 The Rev. Osmond Fisher, M.A., F.G.S., Graveley, Huntmgdon. 

1889 A. M. Wallis, Esq., 29, Mallams, Portland. 

1900 A. J. Jukes-Browne, Esq., B.A., F.R.S., F.G.S., Westleigh, Ash- 
Hill Road, Torquay. , ^ , 
1900 R. Lydekker, Esq., B.A., F.R.S., F.G.S., F.Z.S.. The Lodge, Haqieuden, 

1900 Clement Reid, Esq., F.R.S,, F.L.S., F.G S., One Acre, Milford-on- 

1900 A."smith''woodward, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S., British Museum (Nat. 

Hist.), South Kensington, London. 
1904 Sir Wm. Thiselton Dyer, K.C.M.G., CLE., LL.D., Sc.D., Ph.D.. 

F.R.S., The Ferns, Witcombe, Gloucester. ,„, x ,. j tt 

1904 Sir Frederick Treves, Bart., G.C.V.O., C.B., LL.D., Thatched House 

Lodge, Richmond Park, Kingston-on-Thames ^ , ^ , . 
iqos Thomas Hardy Esq., O.M., D. Litt., LL.D., Max Gate, Dorchester. 
1909 Sered RuTseIwISlace, E'sq., O.M.! LL.D., D.C.L., F.R.S.. Broadstone. 



Xll. 



LIST OF MEMBERS 

OF THE 

Dorset ilatural Sjtstorp iinti ;^ntiquarkn 
jfidti Clut). 



Year of 

Election. 

1903 



1911 



1911 
1902 

1884 

1903 

1904 

1892 

1912 

1889 
1903 
1907 
1907 
1910 
1893 

1892 
1899 

1912 
1907 



(The initials "0.31." signify " Original Member.") 
The Most Hon. the Marquis of 

Salisbury, M.A., C.B. 
The Eight Hon. Gertrude, 

Countess of Moray 
The Eight Hon. the Earl of 

Moray, M.A., F.S.A. Scot., 

F.G.S. (rice- President) 
The Eight Hon. the Earl of 

Ilchester 
The Eight Hon. the Earl of 

Shaftesbury, K.C.V.O. 
The Eight Hon. Lord Eustace 

Cecil, F.E.G.S. ( Vice-President) 
The Eight Hon. Lady Eustace 

Cecil 
The Eight Eev. the Lord Bishop 

of Durham, D.D. 
The Eight Eev. the Lord Bishop 

of Worcester, D.D., F.S.A. 
The Eight Eev. the Lord Bishop 

of Salisbury, D.D. 
The Eight Hon. Lord Digby 
The Eight Hon. Lord Chelmsford 
The Eight Hon. Lord Wynford 
The Eight Hon. Lady Wynford 
Abbott, F. E., Esq. 
Acland, Captain John E., M.A., 

F.S.A. 
Acton, Eev. Edward, B.A. 
Aldridge, Mrs. Selina 



The Manor House, Cranborne 
Westfield, Wimborne 

Kiufauns Castle, Perth, N.B. 
Melbury, Dorchester 

St. Giles, Wimborne 

Lytchett Heath, Poole 

Lytchett Heath, Poole 

Auckland Castle, Bishop's Auckland 

Hartlebury Castle, Kidderminster 

The Palace, Salisbury 

Minteme, Dorchester 

18, Queen's Gate Place, London, S.W. 

Warmwell House, Dorchester 

Warmwell House, Dorchester 

75, St. Thomas Street, Weymouth 



Alexander, Miss Constance 
Allner, Mrs. George 



Wollaston House, Dorchester 
Iwerne Minster Vicarage, Blandford 
Denewood, Alum Chine Eoad, Bourne- 
mouth 
The Grange, Chetnole, Sherborne 
National Provincial Bank, Sturmineter 
Newton 



XUl. 



1908 Almack, Eev. A. C, M.A. 

1906 Atkins, F. T., Esq., M.E.C.S., 

L.R.C.P. Edin. 

1907 Atkinson, George T., Esq., M.A. 

1907 Badcoe, A. C, Esq., B.Sc. 

1902 Baker, Sir Randolf L., Bart., M.P. 

1912 Baker, Rev. E. W., B.A. 

1887 Bankes, Rev. Canon, M.A. 
1906 Bankes, Mrs. 

1912 Bankes, Jerome N., Esq., F.S.A. 

1902 Barkworth, Edmund, Esq. 
1904 Barlow, Major C. M. 

1894 Barnes, Mrs. John lies 

1889 Barnes, Rev. W. M., B.A. {Vice- 
Fresident) 

1903 Barnes, F. J., Esq., F.G.S. 

1903 Barnes, ISfa. F. J. 

1884 Barrett, W. Bowles, Esq. 

1906 Barrow, Richard, Esq. 

1895 Bartelot, Rev. R. Grosvenor, M.A. 

1893 Baskett, S. R., Esq. 

1904 Baskett, Mrs. S. R. 

1909 Batten, Colonel J. Mount, C.B., 

Lord -Lieutenant of Dorset 

1910 Baxter, Lieut. -Colonel W. H., 
1910 Baxter, Mrs. W. H. 

1888 Beckford, F. J., Esq. 

1908 Benett-Stanford, Major J., 

F.R.G.S., F.Z.S. 

1910 Blackett, Rev. J. C, B.A. 

1912 Blackett, C. H., Esq. 

1912 Blackett, W. E., Esq. 

1910 Blomefield, Commander T. C. A., 

R.N. 

1903 Bond, Gerald Denis, Esq. 

1906 Bond, Nigel deM., Esq., M.A, 

1903 Bond, Wm. Ralph G., Esq. 

1910 Bond, F. Bligh, Esq., F.R.I.B.A. 

1894 Bonsor, Geo., Esq. 



The Rectory, Blaudford St. Mary 

Cathay, AlumhurstRoad, Bournemouth 

Durlston Court, Swanage 

Lustleigh, Maumbury Way, Dorchester 

Ranston, Blaudford 

The Rectory, Witchampton 

The Close, Salisbury 

Kingston Lacy, Wimbome 

63, Redcliffe Gardens, London, S. W. 

South House, Pydeltrenthide 

Southcot, Channinster 

Blaudford 

Weymouth Avenue, Dorchester 

Glenthorn, Weymouth 

Glenthorn, Weymouth 

2, Belfield Terrace, Weymouth 

Sorrento House, Sandecotes, Parkstone 

Fordington St. George Vicarage, 

Dorchester 
Evershot 
Evershot 

Up-Cerne House, Dorchester, and 
Moniiugton Lodge, West Kensington 
The Wilderness, Sherborne 
The Wilderness, Sherborne 
Witley, Parkstone 

Hatch House, Tisbury, Wilts 

Gillingham 

Rasapeuna, McKinley Road, Bourne- 
mouth 

Blanchland, McKinley Road, Bourne- 
mouth 

S, Old Castle Road, Weymouth 
Holme, Wareham 
8, Evelyii Gardens, London, S.W. 
Tyneham, Wareham 
The Guild House, Glastonbury 
El Castillo, Maireua del Alcor, 
Sevilla, Spain 



XIV. 



1889 Bower, H. Syndercombe, Esq. 

1900 Bower, Rev. Charles H. S., M.A. 

1898 Brandreth, Rev. F. W., M.A. 

1901 Brennand, John, Esq. 
1900 Brown, Miss 

189.5 Brymer, Rev. J. G., M.A. 
1907 Biilfin, Ignatius, Esq., B.A. 

1900 Bullen, Colonel John Bullen 

Symes 
1907 Bury, Mrs. Henry 
1905 Busk, W. G., Esq. 
1905 Busk, Mrs. W. G. 

1901 Bussell, Miss Katherine 

1912 Butler, Rev. E. T., M.A. 

1903 Butler-Bowden, Mrs. Bruno 

1911 Butlin, M. C, Esq., M.A. 

1891 Carter, William, Esq. 

1913 Case, H. Esq., L.R.C.P. 

1905 Chadwyck-Healey. Sir C. E. H., 
M.A., K.C., K.C.B., F.S.A. 

1903 Champ, A., Esq. 
1897 Chudleigh, Mi-s. 

189i Church, Colonel Ai-thur 

1904 Clapcott, Miss 

1892 Clarence, Lovell Burchett, Esq. 

1905 Clark, Mrs. E. S. 

1895 Clarke, R. Stanley, Esq. 

1912 Clift, J. G. Neilson, Esq. 

1883 Colfox, Miss A. L. 

1878 Colfox, T. A., Esq. 

1905 Colhus, Stephen, Esq., M.P. 

1904 Collins, Wm. W., Esq., R.I. 

1905 Colville, H. K., Esq. 

1904 Coney, Major Wm. Bicknell 
1912 Cooke, Rev. J. H., M.A., 

LL.D. 
1902 Cornish, Rev. W. F., M.A. 



Fontmell Parva, Shillingstone, Bland- 
ford 
Childe Okeford Rectory, Shillingstone, 

Dorset 
Buckland Newton, Dorchester 
Belmont, Parkstone 
Belle Vue, Shaftesbury 
Ilsington House, Puddletown 
The Den, Knole Hill, Bournemouth 

Catherston Leweston, near Charmouth 
Mayfield House, Farnham, Surrey 
Wraxall Manor, Cattistock, Dorchester 
Wraxall Manor, Cattistock, Dorchester 
Thorneloe School, Rodwell, Weymouth 
Okefoi'd Fitzpaine Rectorj^, Shilling- 
stone 
Upwey House, Upwey 

7, Westerhall Road, Weymouth 
The Hermitage, Parkstone 
Abbotsbury "Vicarage 

Wyphurst, Cranleigh, Surrey 

St. Katherine's, Bridport 

Downshay Manor, LaugtonMatravers, 
Dorset 

St. Alban's, Rodwell, Weymouth 

The Cottage, Bradford Peverell, Dor- 
chester 

Coaxden, Axminster 

St. Aldhelm's, Wareham 

Trobridge House, Crediton, Devon 

8, Prince's Street, Westminster, 
S.W. 

Westmead, Bridport 
Coneygar, Bridj)ort 
Harbome, St. Ann's Hill, Wands- 
worth, S.W. 
Stoborough Croft, Wareham 
Loders Court, Bridport 
Martinstown, Dorchester 
Shillingstone Rectory 

Steepleton Rectory, Dorchester 



XV. 



1903 



1891 
1886 



1909 



Cornish -BroTSTie, C. J., Esq. {Hon. 
Director of the Dorset Photo- 
graphic Survey) 

Cother, Eev. P. L., M.A. 

Crespi, A. J. H., Esq., B.A., 
M.E.C.P. 

Cnckmay, Harry W., Esq. 



1884 Cross, Rev. James, M.A. 

1885 Curme, Decimus, Esq., M.R.C.S. 

1896 Curtis, C. H., Esq. 

1897 Curtis, Wilfrid Parkinson, Esq., 

F.E.S. 

1903 Dacombe, J. M. J., Esq. 
1912 Dammers, B.F.H., Esq. 
1907 Daniell, G. H. S., Esq., M.B. 
1907 Daniell, Miss Margaret 

O.M. Darell, D., Esq., E.G.S., F.L.S., 
F.Z.S. 

1904 Davies, Rev. Canon S. E., M.A. 
1894 Davis, Geo., Esq. 

1909 Day, Cyril D., Esq., B.A. 
1904 Deane, Mrs. A. M. 

1910 Devenish, Major J. H. C. 

1907 Dicker, Miss Eleanor H. 
1912 Dickson, Colonel W. D. 
1912 Dickson, Mrs. W. D. 

1903 Digby, Major H. Montague 

1911 Dillon-Trenchard, Miss Margaret 

1906 Dodd, Frank Wm., Esq., 

M.Inst.C.E. 

1908 Dodington, H. P. Marriott, Esq. 
1908 Dominy, G. H., Esq., M.R.C.S., 

L.R.C.P. 

1912 Dru Drury, G., Esq., M.R.C.S., 

L.R.C.P. 

1904 Dugdale, J. B., Esq. 

1905 Duke, Henry, Esq. 
1905 Duke, Mrs. Henry 

1907 Duke, Miss M. Constance 

1908 Duke, Mrs. E. Baruaby 



Came House, Dorchester 

I, Clearmount, Weymouth 

Cooma, Poole Road, Wimbome 
Maybury, 12, Greenhill Terrace, 

Weymouth 
Baillie House, Sturminster Marshall, 

Wimbome 
Eversley, Durley Road, Bournemouth 
Blandford 

Aysgarth, Parkstone Road, Poole 
27, Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth 
Harbour House, Bridport 
Dale House, Blandford 
Dale House, Blandford 

Hillfield House, Stoke Fleming, Dart- 
mouth, Devon 
Wyke Regis Rectorj', WejTnouth 
West Lodge, Icen Way, Dorchester 
Gleuhurst, Dorchester 
Clay Hill House, near Gillingham 
Springfield, Weymouth 
Brook House, Upwey, Dorchester 
Southill, Dean Park, Bournemouth 
Southill, Dean Park, Bournemouth 

II, Park Lane, Piccadilly, W. 

The Ridge, Durlston Park Road, 
Swanage 

17, Adam Street, Brooklyn, U.S.A. 
Castle Gardens, Wareham 

Milton Abbas, Blandford 

Corfe Castle, Wareham 
Sandford, Wareham 
Clandon, Dorchester 
Clandon, Dorchester 
The Limes, Dorchester 
Maeu, Dorchester 



XVI. 



1896 Dundas, Ven. Archdeacon, M.A. 

1911 Dymond, Miss Evelyn 

191C Eaton, Eev. A. E., M.A., F.E.S. 

1885 Elwes, Captain G. E. {Vice- 

President) 

1913 Facey, C. S., Esq., M.B. 

1886 Falkner, C. G., Esq., M.A. 

1884 Farley, Rev. H., M.A. 
1913 Farrar-Eoberts, W., Esq. 

1903 Farrer, Colonel Philip 

1905 Feacey, Jem, Esq. 

1912 Ferguson, Miss E. N. 
1912 Ferguson, Miss Constance 

1904 Ffooks, Mrs. E. Ai-chdall 
1904 Fielding, Thos., Esq., M.D. 

1892 Filleul, Eev. S. E. V., M.A. 

1889 Filliter, George Clavell, Esq. 

1896 FiUiter, Rev. W. D., M.A. 

1910 rniiter, Mrs. W. D. 
1901 Fisher, Mi-s. J. F. 

1911 Fisher, Eev. J. Martyn, M.A. 

1890 Fletcher, W. H. B., Esq. 

1906 Fletcher, Mrs. W. J. 

1907 Fletcher, Eev. Canon J. M. J., 

M.A., E.D. 

1885 Floyer, G. W., Esq., B.A. 
1895 Forbes, Mrs. 

1897 Forde, Henry, Esq. 
1910 Forder, B. C, Esq. 

1893 Forrester, Hugh Carl, Esq., B.A. 
1893 Forrester, Mrs. James 

1910 Fox-Strangways, H. W., Esq. 

1911 Fox, H. E. Groker, Esq., M.B., 

M.E.C.S., L.E.C.P. 

1910 Fi-eame, Major B. E. 

1895 Fry, Edward Alexander, Esq. 

1903 Fry, George S., Esq. 

189S Fullaway, Mrs. 

O.M. Galpin, G., Esq. 



Charminster Vicarage, Dorchester 
TvFO Leas, Langton Matravers, 

Warehara 
Eichmond Villa, Northam, North 

Devon 

Bossington, Bournemouth 

The Elms, Chickerell, near Weymouth 

Ireton Bank, Eusholme, Manchester 

Overbury Eoad, Parkstone 

Plas Lodwig, St. John's Road, 

Bournemouth West 
Binnegar HaU, Wareham 
Culliford Eoad, Dorchester 
Elwell Lea, Upwey, Dorchester 
Elwell Lea, Uijvrey, Dorchester 
Kiugscote, Dorchester 
Milton Abbas, Blandford 
All Saints' Eectory, Dorchester 
St. Martin's House, Wareham 
East Lulworth Vicarage, Wareham 
East Lulvrorth Vicarage, Wareham 
Vines Close, Wimborne 
St. Paul's Vicarage, Weymouth 
Aldwick Manor, Bognor, Sussex 
Wyrle}-, Colehill, Wimborne 

The Vicarage, Wimborne Minster 

West Stafford, Dorchester 

Culverhayes, ShiUingstone, Blandford 

Luscombe, Parkstone 

Upper Parkstone 

St. John's Cottage, Shaftesbury 

Westport, Wareham 

2, St. Aubyn's Park, Tiverton, Devon 

Chalbury Lodge, Weymouth 

The Chantry, Gilhngham 

227, Strand, London, W.C. 

Chesham, The Grove, Nether Street, 

Finchley, London, N. 
Childe Okeford, Blandford 
Clarendon Court, Clarendon Eoad, 

Bournemouth 



xvn. 



1896 


George, Mrs. 


1908 


Gildea, Miss W. P. C. 


1890 


Glyn, Captain Carr Stuart 


1912 


Glyn, Mrs. C. 


O.ll. 


Glyn, Sir E. G., Bart. 


1895 


Godman, F. du Cane, Esq., 




F.E.S. 


1906 


Gowring, Mrs. B. W. 


1908 


Greenwood, Arthur, Esq., L.M.S., 




L.S.A. 


1888 


Greves, Hyla, Esq., M.D. 


1904 


Groves, Herbert J., Esq. 


1906 


Groves, Miss 


1912 


Groves, Miss 


1912 


Groves, Miss M. 


1906 


Gundry, Joseph, Esq. 


1896 


Haggard, Eev. H. A., M.A. 


1912 


Haines, F. H., Esq., M.E.C.S., 




L.E.C.P. 


1903 


Hambro, Sii" Everard, K.C.V.O. 


1905 


Hambro, C. Eric, Esq. 


1913 


Hamilton, Miss 


1911 


Hands, W. G., Esq., H.M.I. 


1893 


Hankey, Eev. Canon, M.A., 




E.D. 


1910 


Harbin, Eev. E. H. Bates, M.A. 


1890 


Harrison, Eev. F. T., M.A. 


1898 


Hassell, Miss 


1894 


Hawkins, W., Esq., M.E.C.S. 


1903 


Hawkins, Miss Isabel 


1908 


Hawkins, Eev. H. 


1893 


HajTie, E., Esq. 


1889 


Head, J. Merrick, Esq., M.E.I.A., 




F.E.G.S., F.P.S. 


1905 


Heath, F. E., Esq. 


1911 


Hellins, Eev. E. W. J., M.A., 




LL.B. 


1911 


Hellins, Mrs. E. W. J. 


1899 


Henning, Mi's. 


1913 


Henshaw, E. Stevenson, Esq., 




C.E. {Ho7i. Editor of the Dorset 




Rainfall Reports) 


1912 


Hichens, Mrs. T. S. 



Fleet House, near Weymouth 
Upwey Eectory, Dorchester 
Wood Leaze, Wimbome 
Wood Leaze, Wimborne 
Gaunts House, Wimborne 

Lower Beeding, Horsham 

49, High West Street, Dorchester 

32, Dorchester Eoad, Weymouth 
Eodney House, Bournemouth 
Clifton, Weymouth 
Thickthorne, Broadwey, Dorset 
Blackdown, Weymouth 
Blackdown, Weymouth 
Eed House, Queen's Avenue, Dor- 
chester 
Molash Vicarage, Canterbury 

Wiufrith, Dorchester 
Milton Abbey, Dorset 
Pickhiu'st Mead, Hayes, Kent 
Affpuddle Vicarage, Dorchester 
130, Kedleston Eoad, Derby 

Maiden Newton Eectory, Dorchester 
Newton Surmaville, Yeovil 
Burton Bradstock Eectory, Bridport 
Westfield Lodge, Parkstone 
Hillfield, Broadwey, Dorchester 
Wyke, Sherborne 
1, Westerhall, We3Tnouth 
Fordington House, Dorchester 

Pennsylvania Castle, Portland 
The Woodlands, Weymouth 

Marnhull Eectory, Dorset 
Marnhull Eectory, Dorset 
Frome, Dorchester 



New Eoad, Portland 
Flamberts, Trent, Sherborne 



XVlll. 



1901 Hill, R. E., Esq. 
1910 Hill, Miss Pearson 

1902 Hine, R., Esq. 

1902 Homer, Miss E. C. Wood 
1907 Homer, Mrs. G. "Wood 
1888 Huntley, H. E., Esq. 

1903 Jenkins, Rev. T. Leonard, M.A. 
1912 Jordan, Miss 

1893 Kerr, E. W., Esq., M.D. 
1912 Kersley, R., Esq. 

1895 Lafontaine, A. C. de, Esq., F.S.A. 

1902 Langdon, Miss Mary C. 

1876 Langford, Rev. Canon, M.A. 

1910 Leach, F. R., Esq. 

1907 Lees, Captain Edgar, R.N. 

1907 Lees, Mrs. Edgar 

1910 Le Fleming, E. K., Esq., B.A., 

M.B. 

1900 Legge, Miss Jane 

1899 Le Jeune, H., Esq. 

1900 Leslie, Rev. E. C, M.A. 
1902 Lewis, Rev. A., M.A. 

1894 Linklater, Rev. Prebendary, D.D. 
1890 Lister, INIiss Guliehna, F.L.S. 
1905 Llewellin, W., Esq.,M.A. 

1900 Lock, Mrs. A. H. 

1892 Lock, His Honour Judge 

B. Fossett, 

1893 Lock, Miss Mary C. 

1911 Long, Rev. H. R., B.A. 

1910 MacCormick, Rev. F., F.S.A. 
Scot., M.R.A.S. 



1888 MacDonald, P. W., Esq., M.D. 

1902 Mainwaring, Lieut. -Col. F. G. L. 

1890 Manger, A. T., Esq. 

1907 Mansel, Miss Susan 

1899 Mansel -Pleydell, Rev. Canon 

J. C. M., M.A., R.D. {Vice- 

Presideyit and Hon. Treasurer) 
1S9G March, H. CoUey, Esq., M.D., 

F.S.A., M.R.S.A.I., F.A.L 

( Vice-President) 



Long Lynch, Childe Okeford 

Rax, Bridport 

Beaminster 

Bardolf Manor, Puddletown 

Bardolf Manor, Puddletown 

Charlton House, Blandford 

Leigh Vicarage, Sherborne 

The Ridge, Durlston Park Road, 

Swanage 
South Street, Dorchester 
The Manor, Upwey, Dorchester 
Athelhampton, Dorchester 
Parrock's Lodge, Chard 
Southbrook, Starcross, S. Devon 
Upcott, Bournemouth West 
White Cross, Wyke Regis 
White Cross, Wyke Regis 

St. Margaret's, Wimborne 

Allington Villa, Bridport 

St. Ives, Upper Parkstone, Dorset 

Came Rectory, Dorchester 

Chardstock Vicarage, Chard 

Holworth House, Winfrith 

High CHff, Lyme Regis 

Upton House, Poole 

53, High West Street, Dorchester 

Ford Hall, Bridlington, Yorkshire 
7, Blackheath Road, Oxford 
Tolpuddle, Dorchester 

Wrockwardine Wood Rectory, Wel- 
lington, Salop 
Herrison, Dorchester 
Wabey House, Upwey 
Stock Hill, Gillingham 
Top-o'-Town, Dorchester 



Sturminster Newton Vicarage, Dorset 



Portesham, Dorchester 



XIX. 



1901 Markham-Lee, W, H., Esq., 

I.S.M. 

1883 Mamott, Sir W. Smith, Bart. 

1904 Marsh, J. L., Esq. 
1911 Mason, W. J., Esq. 

1911 Mason, Mrs. E. E. 
1907 Mate, C. H., Esq. 

1879 Maunsell, Rev. F. W., M.A. 
O.M. Mayo, Rev. Canon, M.A., R.D. 
( Vice-President) 

1912 McDowall, A. S., Esq., M.A. 

1907 Michell, Theo., Esq. 

O.M. Middleton, H. B., Esq., M.A. 
1909 Middleton, Miss A. 
1890 MHne, Rev. Percy H., M.A. 
O.M. Moorhead, J., Esq., M.A., 
M.D. 

1905 Morgan, Mrs. 

1911 Morris, Sir Daniel, K.C.M.G., 

D.Sc., D.C.L., F.L.S. 
1897 MouUin, Arthur D., Esq. 

1908 Nettleton, Spencer, Esq. 

1909 Newnham, H. S., Esq. 

1905 Nicholson, Captain Hugh 

1906 Oke, A. W., Esq., B.A., LL.M., 

F.S.A., F.G.S. 
1886 Okeden, Colonel U. E. Parry 

1906 Okeden, Edmund Parry, Esq. 
1908 Oliver, Vere L., Esq. 

1908 OUver, Mrs. Vere L. 

1904 OUver, Weston, Esq., M.A. 
1908 Ord, W. T., Esq., M.R.C.S., 

L.R.C.P., F.G.S. 

1911 Ouless, W. W., Esq., R.A. 

1911 Ouless, Miss Catherine 

1905 Paget, Miss Adelaide 
1890 Patey, Miss 

1908 Patterson, Mrs. Myles 

1907 Paul, Edward CUfford, Esq., 

M.A. 
1907 Paul, Mrs. Edward Clifford 



Wyke Regis, Weymouth 
The Down House, Blandford 
White ClifF MUl Street, Blandford 
St. Denis, Cann, Shaftesbury 
St. Denis, Cann, Shaftesbury 
Elim, Surrey Road South, Bourne- 
mouth 
Symondsbury Rectory, Bndport 

Long Burton Vicarage, Sherborne 

Xorden, Corfe Castle 

Trewii-gie, 37, Christchurch Road, 

Bournemouth 
Bradford Peverell, Dorchester 
Bradford Peverell, Dorchester 
Hornblottou Rectory, Castle Cary 

The Imperial Hotel, Bournemouth 
The Vicarage, Yetminster 

14, Crabton Close, Boscombe 
Feiinain, Cranbourne Road, Swanage 
West Lulworth, Wareham 
Rodlands, Dorchester 
Nettlecombe, Melplash 

32, Demnark Villas, Hove, Sussex 
Turnworth, Blandford 
Turnworth, Blandford 
Greenhill House, Weymouth 
Greenhill House, Weymouth 
Castle House, Weymouth 

Greenstead, 14, Madeira Road, Bourne- 
mouth 
12, Bryanston Square. London, W. 
12, Bryanston Square, London, W. 
Park Homer, Wimborne 
Holmlea, Liucohi 
Conygar, Broadmayne, Dorchester 

Eastbrook House, Upwey 
Eastbrook House, Upwey 



XX. 



1894 Payne, Miss Florence O. 

1906 Pearce, Mrs. Thos. A. 
1909 Pearce, Edwin, Esq. 
1901 Peck, Gerald R., Esq. 
1878 Penny, Rev. J., M.A. 
1894 Penny-Snook, S., Esq., M.R.C.S., 

L.R.C.P. 

1907 Penny-Snook, Mrs. S. 
1901 Pentin, Rev. Herbert, M.A. {Vice- 

Fresident and Hon. Hecretary) 
1894 Peto, Sir Henry, Bart. 
1896 Phillips, Miss 

1908 Phillips, Rev. C. A., M.A. 
1898 Pickard-Cambridge, A. W., Esq., 

M.A. 

O.M. Pickard - Cambridge, Rev. O., 
M.A., F.R.S. {Vice-President) 

1908 Pickard-Cambridge, Miss Ada 

1908 Pickard - Cambridge , Miss 
Catherine 

1903 Pike, Leonard G., Esq. 

1913 Pinney, Rev. Baldwin, B.A, 

1913 Pinney, Mrs. Baldwin 

1903 Pitt-Rivers, A. L. Fox, Esq., 

F.S.A. 

1904 Plowman, Rev. L. S. 
1896 Pond, S., Esq. 
1894 Ponting, Chas. E., Esq., F.S.A. 

1908 Poole, Rev. Sealy, M.A. 
O.M. Pope, Alfred, Esq., Y.^.K. {Vice- 
President) 

1906 Pope, Alfred Rolph, Esq., M.A. 
1906 Pope, Mrs. Alfred Rolph 

1905 Pope, Miss Hilda 

1909 Pope, Francis J., Esq., 

F.R. Hist. S. 
1909 Pratt, Colonel, R.A. 
1896 Prideaux, C. S., Esq., L.D.S. 
1900 Prideaux, W. de C, Esq., L.D.S., 

F.R.S.M. 
1905 Pringle, Henry T., Esq., M.D. 
1905 Pringle, Mrs. Henry T. 
1888 Pye, William, Esq. 



Rydal, Wimborne 
Ivythorpe, Dorchester 
Fore Street, Taunton 
Muston Manor, Puddletown 
Tarrant Rushton Rectory, Blandford 

Netherton House, Weymouth 
Netherton House, Weymouth 

Milton Abbey Vicarage, Blandford 
Chedington Court, Misterton, Somerset 
Walton House, Bournemouth 
Walton House, Bournemouth 

St. Catherine's, Headington Hill, Ox- 
ford 

Bloxworth Rectory, Wareham 
Picardy, Rod well, Weymouth 

Picardy, Rodwell, Weymouth 
Kingbarrow, Wareham 
Durweston Rectory, Blandford 
Dui-weston Rectory, Blandford 

Rushmore, Salisbury 

Ibbertou Rectory, Blandford 

Blandford 

Wye House, Marlborough 

Chickerell Rectory, Weymouth 

South Court, Dorchester 
CuUiford House, Dorchester 
CuUiford House, Dorchester 
South Court, Dorchester 

17, Holland Road, London, W. 
The Ferns, Chaiminster 
Ermington, Dorchester 

12, Frederick Place, Weymouth 
Femdown, Wimborne 
Femdown, Wimborne 
Dunmore, Rodwell, Weymouth 



XXI. 



905 Ramsden, Mrs. 

1912 Rawlence, E. A., Esq. 

1905 Raymoud, H. F., Esq. 

1906 Raymond, Mrs. H. F. 

1886 Reynolds, Mrs. Arthur 

1904 Rhydderch, Rev. W. 

1887 Richardson, N. M., Esq., B.A. 

(Fresident) 

1901 Ridley, Rev. J. 

1911 Robson, Colonel H. D. 

1911 Robson, Mrs. H. D. 

1886 Rodd, Edward Stanhope, Esq. 

1907 Roe, Miss M. M. E. 

1909 Roe, Rev. Wilfrid T., M.A. 

1912 Romilly, Geo., Esq., M.A. 
1907 Roper, Freeman, Esq., F.L.S. 
1889 Russell, Colonel C. J., R.E. 

1910 Russell -Wright, Rev. T., M.A. 

1905 Sanderson-Wells, T. H., Esq., 

M.D. 

1913 Sauer, Hans, Esq., M.D. 
1913 Sauer, Mrs. Hans 

1905 Saunt, Miss 

1905 Saunt, Miss B. V. 

1889 Schuster, Rev. W. Percy, M.A. 

1910 Schuster, Mrs. W. P. 

1907 Scott, J. H., Esq., M.E. 
1904 Seaman, Rev. C. E., M.A. 

1883 Searle, Alan, Esq. 

1906 Shephard, Colonel C. S., D.S.O. 
1896 Shepheard, Thomas, Esq., 

F.R.M.S. 

1906 Shepherd, Rev. F. J. 

1903 Sheridan, Mrs. A. T. Brinsley 

1884 Sherren, J. A., Esq., F.R. Hist. S. 

1911 Shield, William, Esq. 

1908 Shortt, Miss E. F. 
1908 Shortt, Miss L. M. 



Great Bidlake, Bridestow, N. Devon 
Newlands, Salisbury 
Garry owen, Dorchester 
Garryowen, Dorchester 
Wyndcroft, Bridport 
Owermoigne Rectory, Dorchester 

Montevideo, Chickerell, near Wey- 
mouth 
The Rectory, Pulham, Dorchester 
St. Oswald, West Lulworth 
St. Oswald, West Lulworth 
Chardstock House, Chard 
Trent Rectory, Sherborne 
Trent Rectory, Sherborne 
The Grange, MarnhuU 
Forde Abbey, Chard 
Clavinia, Weymouth 
Mountside, Westbourne Park Road, 
Bournemouth 

16, Victoria TeiTace, Weymouth 

Parnham, Beaminster 

Parnham, Beaminster 

The Cottage, Upwey 

The Cottage, Upwey 

The Vicarage, West Lulworth, Ware- 

ham 
The Vicarage, West Lulworth, Ware- 

ham 
Skiddaw, Talbot Hill, Bournemouth 
Stalbridge Rectory, Blandford 
Ashton Lodge, Bassett, Southampton 
Shortlake, Osmington, Weymouth 

Kingsley, Bournemouth West 

The Presbytery, Dorchester 

Frampton Court, Dorchester 

Helmsley, Penn Hill Avenue, Park- 
stone 

Lindisfame, Dorchester Road, Wey- 
mouth 

The Manor House, Martiustown 

The Manor House, Martinstown 



xxu. 



1897 Simpson, Jas., Esq. 
1895 Simpson, Miss 

1912 Smith, Eev. A. Hippisley 

1899 Smith, Howard Lyon, Esq., 

L.R.C.P. 

1909 Smith, Newell C, Esq., M.A. 

1908 Smith, Mrs. Spencer 

1888 Solly, Rev. H. Shaen, M.A. 
1901 Sotheby, Rev. W. E. H., M.A., 

R.D. 
1905 Stephens, J. Thompson, Esq. 
1908 Stephens, A. N., Esq. 

1900 Storer, Colonel, late R.E. 

1895 Sturdy, Leonard, Esq. 

1896 Sturdy, Philip, Esq. 

1907 Sturdy, Alan, Esq. 
1905 Sturdy, E. T., Esq. 

1898 Sturt, W. NevHle, Esq. 

1898 Suttill, H. S., Esq. 

1905 Suttill, John, Esq. 

1912 Swinburne-Hanham, J. C, Esq. 
1893 Sykes, E. R., Esq., B.A., F.Z.S. 
{Vice-President) 

1889 Symes, G. P., Esq., M.A., B.C.L., 

M.V.O. 

1904 Symonds, Arthur G., Esq. 
1904 Symonds, Henry, Esq., F.S.A. 

(Vice- President and 

Hon. Editor) 
1912 Symonds, F. G., Esq, 

1901 Telfordsmith, Telford, Esq., 

M.A., M.D. 
O.M. Thompson, Rev. G., M.A. 

1906 Thomson, Chas. Bertram, Esq., 

F.R.C.S. 



Mmterne Grange, Parkstone 

Penolver, Glendinning Avenue, Wey- 
mouth 

Knowlon House, Surrey Road, Bourne- 
mouth 

St. Mary's Rectory, Glanville's 

Wootton 
School House, Sherborne 
Kingston Vicarage, Wareham 
Southcote, Alexandra Road, Parkstone 

Gillingham Vicarage, Dorset 

Wanderwell, Bridport 

Haddon House, West Bay, Bridport 

Keavil, Bournemouth 

Trigon, Wareham 

The Wick, Brauksome, near Bourne- 
mouth 

The Wick, Branksome, near Bourne- 
mouth 

Norburton, Burton Bradstock, Brid- 
port 

Baytree Farm, Great Horkesley, Col- 
chester 

Pymore, Bridport 

24, West Street, Bridport 

Manston , Sturminster Newton 

Longthorns, Blaudford 

Monksdene, Dorchester Road, Wey- 
mouth 
10, South Street, Dorchester 



30, Bolton Gardens, London, S.W. 
The Firs, Sturminster Newton 

The Knoll, Parkstone 
Highbury, Bodorgan Road, Bourne- 
mouth 



Eomansleigh, Wimborne 



XXlll. 



1907 Towers, Miss 

1898 Troyte-BuUock, Mrs. 

1905 Truell, Mrs. 

O.M. Udal, His Honour Judge, F.S.A. 
{Vice-President) 

1908 Udal. N. E,., Esq., B.A. 
1897 Usher, Eev. R., M.A., F.L.S. 
1890 Usherwood, Rev. Canon T. E., 

M.A. 

1910 Vivian, S. P., Esq. 

1907 Waite, Arthur H., Esq. 
1887 Walker, Rev. S. A., M.A. 
1905 Ward, Samuel, Esq. 

O.M. Wan-e, Rev. Canon F., M.A. 

1904 Wany, Mrs. King 

1904 Warry, Wm., Esq. 

1905 Watkins, Wm., Esq., F.R.G.S. 

1905 Watts, Miss 

1893 Weaver, Rev. F. W., M.A., 

F.S.A., F.R.Hist.S. 

1910 Webb, Miss 

1913 West, C. E., Esq. 

1895 Whitby, Joseph, Esq. 

1908 Whitby, Mrs. J. 

1904 Wildman, W. B., Esq., M.A. 
1892 WnUams, E. W., Esq., B.A. 
1903 Williams, Captain Berkeley C. W. 

1897 Williams, Miss F. L. 

1884 Williams, Colonel Robert, M.P. 

1884 Williams, Mrs. Robert 

1908 Williams, Miss Rhoda 

1906 Williams, Miss Meta 
1912 Williams, Mrs. Arthur S. 

1905 Wills, A. W., Esq., B.A., LL.B. 
1910 Wingate, Rev. P. B., M.A. 

1906 Wiuwood, T. H. R., Esq., M.A. 
1910 Woodd, A.B.,Esq.,M.A.,M.R.I. 

1898 Woodhouse, Miss 

1903 Woodhouse, Miss EUen E. 

1906 Woodhouse, Frank D., Esq. 

1906 Woodhouse, Mrs. Frank D. 



Whicham, Porchester Road, Bourne- 
mouth 
Silton Lodge, Zeals, Bath 
Onslow, Wimbome 

The Manor House, Symondsbury, 
Bridport 

Gordon College, Khartoum 
Netherbury, Beaminster 

Bagdale, Parkstone 

Inland Revenue Office, Somerset 

House, Loudon 
Upwey Place, Upwey 
Charlton Manor, Blandford 
Ingleton, Greenhill, Weymouth 
Bemerton, Salisbury 
39, Filey Avenue, Upper Clapton, 

London, N. 
Westrow, Holwell, Sherborne 
62, London Wall, E.C. 
Bemerton, Salisbury 

Milton Vicarage, Evercreech, Somerset 

Luscombe, Parkstone 

Swanage 

Preston, Yeovil 

Preston, Yeovil 

The Abbey House, Sherborne 

Herringston, Dorchester 

Herringston, Dorchester 

Westleaze, Doi'chester 

Bridehead, Dorchester 

Bridehead, Dorchester 

Bridehead, Dorchester 

South Walk, Dorchester 

Hill House, Yetminster 

3, Hyde Park Gate, London, S.W. 

Tarrant Keynston Rectorj', Blandford 

Rothesay, Dorchester 

Heckfield, Milford-on-Sea, Hants 

Chilmore, Ansty, Dorchester 

Chilmore, Ansty, Dorchester 

Old Ford House, Blandford St. Mary 

Old Ford House, Blandford St. Mary 



XXIV. 

1911 Woodhouse, Miss A. M. E. 
1902 Wright, Rev. Herbert L., B.A. 
1904 Yates, Eobert, Esq. 
1910 Yeatman, H. F., Esq., M.A., 
B.C.L. 

1893 Young, E. W., Esq. 



Norden, Bland ford 

Church Knowle Rectory, Corfe Castle 

Delcombe, Milton Abbas, Blandford 

28, Cecil Court, Hollywood Road, 

London, S.W. 
Dorchester 



Affiliated Libeaey (Rule XXI.). 
1911 Central Public Library Bournemouth 



The above list includes the New Members elected up to and including the 
May meeting of the 3ear 1913. 

(Any omissions or errors should be notified to the Hon. Secretary.) 



Vjf? 



XXV. 



flc\3) JEtrntJcrs 



Elected since the Publication of the List contained 
IN Vol. XXXIII. 



Proposed Sept. 2-iTH, 1912. 

Nominee. Proposer. Seco)ider. 

Miss Groves, of Blackdown, Alfred Pope, Esq. The Hon. Secretary 

Weymouth 
Miss M. Groves, of Blackdown, ,, „ 

Weymouth 
A. S. McDowall, Esq., M.A., Miss E. Simpson W. W. Collins, Esq. 

of Norden, Corfe Castle 

Peoposed Dec. IOth, 1912. 
Nominee. Proposer. Seconder. 

C. S. Facey, Esq., M.B., of The The President The Rev. Sealy Poole 

Elms, Chickerell, near Wey- 
mouth 

The Rev. Baldwin Finney, B. A., The Rev. Dr. J. H. The Hon. Secretary 
of Durweston Rectory, Bland- Cooke 
ford 

Mrs. Pinney, of Durweston ,, ,; 

Rectory 

Proposed Jan. 2Sth, 1913. 
Nominee. Proposer. Seconder. 

Henry Case, Esq., L.R.C.P., of Dr. H. Colley March Dr. W. Hawkins 

The Vicarage, Abbotsbury 
W. Farrar-Roberts, Esq., of Dr. T. Telfordsmith F. R. Leach, Esq. 

Plas Lodwig, St. John's Road, 

Bournemouth West 
Miss Hamilton, of Affpuddle The Rev. H. R. Long The Hon. Secretary 

Vicarage, Dorchester 
E. Stevenson Henshaw, Esq., Lt.-Col. F. G. L. H. Stilwell, Esq. 

C.E. (,Hon. Editor of the Mainwaring 

Dorset Rainfall Reports), of 

New Road, Portland 
Hans Sauer, Esq., M.D., of Judge J. S. Udal Alfred Pope, Esq. 

Parnham, Beaminster, Dorset 
Mrs. Hans Sauer, of Parnham ,, »> 

Charles Eliot West, Esq., of G. T. Atkinson, Esq. A. D. Moullin, Esq. 

Cluny Croft, Swanage 



XXVI. 

PUBLICATIONS. 

Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian 
Field Club. Vols. I. — XXXIV. Price 10s. 6d. each volume, postfree. 

General Index to the Proceedings. Vols. I.— XXVI. Price 6d., by 

post 'd. 
The Church Bells of Dorset. By the Rev. Canon Eaven, D.D., F.S.A. 

Price (in parts, as issued), 6s. 6d., post free. 

By the late J. C. IVIansel-Pleydell, B.A., F.G.S., F.L.S. 

The Flora of Dorset. 2nd Edition. Price 12s. 
The Birds of Dorset. Price .5s. 
The Mollusca of Dorset. Price os. 

By the Rev. O. Pickaed-Cambeidge, M.A., F.R.S., F.Z.S. 

Spiders of Dorset. 2 vols. Price 2.>s., post free. 

The British Phalangidea, or Harvest Men. Price .is., post free. 

British Chernetidea, or False Scorpions. Price os., post free. 

The Volumes of Proceedings can be obtained from the Hon. Treasurer (the 
Rev. Canon Mansel-Pleydell, Stui-miuster Newton) ; the Church Bells of 
Dorset, fi-om the Rev. W. Miles Barnes, Dorchester ; Mr. Mansel-Pleydell's 
works, from the Cm-ator of the Dorset County Museum, Dorchester; the 
Rev. O. Pickard-Cambridge's works, from the Author, Bloxworth Rectory, 
Wareham ; and the General Index, from the Assistant- Secretary (Mi-. H. 
Pouncy, Dorset Cuiuitij Chronicle Office, Dorchester). 



SOCIETIES & INSTITUTIONS IN CORRESPONDENCE 
WITH THE FIELD CLUB. 

Bodleian Library, Oxford. 
British Museum, London. 
British Museum of Natural History, South Kensington, 

London. 
British Association, Burlington House, London. 
Cambridge Philoscph icai Society, Cambridge. 
Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science. 
Geological Society of London, London. 
Hampshire Field Club, Southampton, 
Royal Society of Antiquaries, Dublin, Ireland. 
Society of Antiquaries, London. 
Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, 

Taunton, 
University Library, Cambridge. 
Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society. 

Devizes. 



OF THE 

IDxjrsct flatxiral t)tstorp anti ;^ntiquarxau 
fidti Club. 

(From May, 1912, to May, 1913.) 



FIRST SUMMER MEETING. 
Beaulieu Abbey. 
Tuesday, 18th June. 

In the unavoidable absence of the President, his place was 
filled by Captain G. R. Elwes, who was accompanied b}' the 
Hon. Secretary, the Hon. Treasurer, the Hon. Editor, and 
about seventy members and visitors. 

The party assembled at Brockenhurst Station, after an 
interval of sixteen years since the last visit of the Field Club 
to that neighbourhood. The first objective was St. Leonard's 
Abbey, where the Rev. H. Pentin read a letter from Mr. 
Fisher-Rowe, in which the writer regretted his absence at 
Bath. 

CajDtain Elwes observed that St. Leonard's was one of the series 
of granges which belonged to BeauUeu, and although locallj' known 
as " St. Leonard's Abbey," was never really an Abbey. The Abbey 
grant extended a mile and a quarter, and conveyed a right of sanctuary, 
which benefited not only those who took sanctuary, but also those 
who gave it, since those taking sanctuary became labour tenants of 
the Abbey. At the Dissolution there were in the Abbey domain 32 
men, with their wives and families, and it was a matter of regret that 
these men had to be turned out. They were there under sentence 
for various crimes, and it seemed curious that any communal body 
like the monks of Beaulieu should have had the power to retain these 
criminals, and to screen them from justice. 



XXVIU. BEAULIEU ABBEY. 

The Rev. C. W. H. Dicker added a few observations upon the 
architectural features of the chapel, the details of which were much 
admired. The date was about 1350, and the geometrical tracery 
of the west window was entirely characteristic of the 14th century, 
especially in the great development of those chapelries belonging to 
the monastic houses. 

Buckler's Hard- 

A note of the days of Nelson was struck in the appearance of Buckler's 
Hard, on the Beaulieu River, whither the party next drove. Here 
they saw the launching slips from which were launched the wooden 
men o' war, among them four vessels that fought at Trafalgar. 

Captain Elwes invited the Members to realise the time when 
Buckler's Hard was one of the busiest places along the south-coast, 
particularly convenient for ship-building, since the oak timber grown 
in the Forest was close at hand, and the place, up that winding 
creek, was well out of the way of hostile privateers. 

Beaulieu Abbey. 

According to a manuscript in the Cotton Library, " in the sixth 
year of King John, the king built a certain monastery of the Cistercian 
Order in England and called it Bellus Locus." 

Captain Elwes gave a short account of the rise and history of the 
Cistercian Order, observing that Stephen Harding, formerly a monk 
of Sherborne, might be correctly described rather as the lawgiver of 
the order than as its actual founder at Citeaux. Beaulieu was a 
perfect example of a Cistercian Abbey ; and they might imagine what 
wealth and power the abbey enjoyed by the enormous area eovercd 
by the church, which was originally larger than any of the cathedrals 
of the kingdom, but of which, alas ! not a single stone was left. The 
flagged way outside the penthouse of the cloister gave admission to the 
various shops that occupied the cloister at the time when the abbey 
was in full activity — one that of the wood carver, another that of the 
painter, yet another the school, marked by that series of steps similar 
to those they might remember to have seen in Winchester College. 
In fine weather the various occupations necessary to the abbey were 
carried on in these cloisters. The monks had their own port for sea- 
borne goods — on the other side of the river, and their market for inland 
goods — up in a field still called Cheapside. 

The party were here joined by Mr. J. W. Nash-Brown (in charge of 
Lord Montagu's estate office), who acted as guide, and conducted 
them over the buildings. After traversing the whole length of the bare 
site of the great abbey, the party entered the parish church, where the 
guide indicated the changes which had been made to adapt the refectory 



BEAULIEU ABBEY xxix. 

to its present sacred purpose. In the refectory on the ground floor 
have been gathered together many of the relics found in the abbey, 
including a canopied niche formerly placed over the arch of the gate- 
house, the grave slab of Eleana, daughter of Edward I., and a collection 
of the tiles, inlaid and encaustic, formerly covering the floor of the 
abbey. A large number of the tiles, as Mr. Nash-Brown mentioned, 
are still in place, but covered by two or three feet of earth. 

By permission of Lord Montagu, the party were allowed to go over 
his beautiful residence, a portion of which was formerly the Abbot's 
house. 

On leaving the house Captain Elwes, on behalf of the Club, expressed 
their appreciation of Lord Montagu's kindness, and thanked Mr. 
Morgan and Mr. Nash-Brown for their good offices. 

A pleasant drive back to Brockenhurst was followed by tea at the 
Morant Arms. 

Business Meeting. 

Afterwards a short business meeting was held, at which four new 
Members were elected. 

The Hon. Sec. announced six new nominations for membership. 

Sir Daniel Morris, of Bournemouth, was appointed as the club's 
delegate to attend the meeting of the British Association at Dundee. 

The meeting proceeded to consider the proposal of Captain Acland 
that the volume of Proceedings should in future be brought out, not at 
the end of the year, but immediately after the annual meeting in May. 
As this proposed change would involve the publication of an interim 
volume to adjust matters, it might be necessary to meet the extra 
expense by drawing upon the reserve fund of the Club. 

On the motion of the Rev. C. W. H. Dicker, seconded by the Rev. 
T. Russell Wright, the proposal, after full discussion, was carried 
nem. con. 






XXX . MARLBORO UGH . 

SECOND SUMMER MEETING. 
Marlborough. 
Tuesday and Wednesday, 2Zrd and 2Uh July. 

On this occasion about sixty Members and visitors accom- 
panied the President on a very successful pilgrimage extend- 
ing over two days. 

Shortly after assembling at the Ailesbury Arms on the 
Tuesday the party visited St. Peter's Church, at the further 
end of the wide High Street. 

Mr. E. DoRAN Webb, F.S.A., of whose services as guide the club 
again had the advantage, said a few words in the church about the 
history of the town, and of the tumulus known as the Castle Mound. 
He also touched upon the incidents connected with St. Peter's in early 
times, remarking that Cardinal Wolsey was ordained in the Chancel 
in 1494. 

The School. 

From the church Mr. Doran Webb, by leave of the Headmaster, 
led the party over the School, which was founded in 1843, with the 
charming old Castle Inn as the nucleus of the modern buildings which 
have been erected round it. 

AvEBURY Church, 

a place of exceptional interest, was next visited. As Mr. Doran Webb 
pointed out, the church was subjected to severe mutilation 
in the 18th Century, when the early Norman arches were 
replaced by the present modern work. Attention was called to the 
three small circular windows in the w-all of the north arcade, 
windows which Mr. Charles E. Pouting, F.S.A., regarded as being 
Saxon. But the great rarity of the church is the font. The upper 
part, with its quaint interweaving symbolical design, is of quite a 
different date from the lower part, adorned with Norman arcading 
formed of intersecting arches. The most noticeable object of the upjier 
and the much older half is a priestly figure wearing a kind of cjuilted 
frock, its face quite disfigured by the driving in of a staple, and hold- 
ing in the right hand a crozier-like staff. Mr. Doran Webb said he 
knew of no font with so distinctive and strong a Scandinavian feeling 
in the design and adornment, and Dr. Colley March, F.S.A., 
agreed with him that the upj^er part was Scandinavian. 

Mr. H. St. George Gray, assistant secretary of the Somerset 
Archa3oIogical Societj% and the director of the excavations at Avebury, 



MARLEOROUGH. XXxi. 

had come with the party as guide in this unique village, which has 
sprung up within the stone circle of the prehistoric temple. On the 
club leaving the church he led them to see the manor house of the 
16th Century, built by one Dunch in 1556, and told the family history 
connected with it. 

The Temple of Avebury. 
The Excavations. 

Tea at the Red Lion was a welcome refreshment. Afterwards the 
party set out to walk round the earthwork. Mr. Gray led them along 
the huge vallum to a convenient spot overlooking the section of the 
fosse in which the excavations were carried out from 1908 onwards. 

Mr. Gray delivered a concise address, giving first a general des- 
cription of Avebury, and then detailing the course of the excavations. 
The circumference of the place, he said was about 4,400 feet, roughly 
three-quarters of a mile, and its diameter from north to south 1,400 
feet — four times that of Stonehenge. The stones, while none of them 
were quite so large as at Stonehenge, differed also in being rough un- 
tooled sarsens, whereas at Stonehenge all the stones were dressed, and 
other hard stones were to be found besides sarsens. That great em- 
bankment, of a vertical height of 31 feet, enclosed an area of 28 acres 
and a half. They would notice a rather unusual thing — that the fosse 
was inside the vallum instead of outside. Next, lying just inside 
the foss, were the remaining stones of the great outer circle, which 
enclosed two other circles of stones, the northern and the southern. 
He pointed to five stones (two still upright and three prone) 
forming an arc of the southern inner circle, in the centre of which, in 
Stukeley's time, was one large monolith. In the centre of the corres- 
ponding northern inner circle was the so-called " Cove," formed of 
three stones, of which two were still standing, roughly at right angles, 
one of the stones being 20 feet high, the tallest of those remaining. 
Although Lord Avebury, the owner of the part of the work in which 
the excavations had as yet been carried out, held the opinion that the 
whole place was one vast cemetery, yet he himself could not admit 
that it was ever used for sepulchral purposes, since, as far as he knew, 
no interment had been found there. What, then, was the purpose of 
the place ? Nobody knew. It could not have been for defence, for 
in that case the fosse would have been outside the vallum instead of 
inside. He had heard suggestions that it might have been a temple in 
connection with the observation of the sun, moon, and stars, which 
seemed probable. There was originally a long avenue of stones 
approaching Avebury from the south, and by the turnpike cottage 
they saw the last stone. Of this Kennet-avenue only 10 stones re- 
mained ; but a hundred years ago Lord Wiuchilsea counted no less 



XXXll. MARLBOROUGH. 

than 78, and at one time there were 200. As to the so-called Beck- 
hampton-avenue, coming from the West, to his mind it was doubtful 
whether an avenue ever existed in the direction of Beckhampton ; 
but, if so, all that remained now were two large stones, in a field nearly 
a mile away, called Adam and Eve, Longstone Cove, or the Devil's 
Points. On December 2nd last " Eve " fell. Effort was being made 
to set the stone up again ; but already they had broken several steel 
ropes in the attempt. Mr. Cunnington, of Devizes, had been digging 
out the hole to find the socket in the solid chalk, and in doing so had 
discovered a human skeleton and a beaker, or drinking vessel, 
datable to the Bronze Age. 

Dr. CoLLEY March said that, as the interment was close to the 
stone and shallow, it must have been placed there after the stone was 
raised. Had it been put there before the stone was raised it would 
have been ground to pieces. He suggested that the interment was 
made at that spot because it was sacred, and people wished to bury 
their dead in or near some sacred place. As to date, the avenue was 
there before the early Bronze Age. 

(Also, cf. Proceedings, Vol. XXX., p. Ixiv.) 

SiLBURY. 

From Avebury the Club drove back to jMarlborough via " Adam 
and Eve " and Silbury Hill, which has the distinction of being the 
highest artificial mound in Britain. 

Mr. Gray gave all the information known about the tumulus. It 
is 125 feet high from the surface of the ground ; the diameter of the 
base is 555 feet, and at the top 105 feet. The material was believed 
to have been obtained from all round the base of the hill. In hollows 
which he pointed out there are five feet of alluvial deposit, showing that 
originally the hollows were very much larger ; and in that deposit 
had been found flint implements of the Neolithic period. The de- 
pression in the centre of the summit marked the position of the vertical 
shaft which was sunk in 1777, and although it reached the very 
bottom of the hill, nothing was found. In 1840 the Royal Archaeo- 
logical Institute followed suit by doing the complementary work of 
tunneling the hill from the Bath-road side to the centre ; and in 
doing so they met the shaft. Again nothing was found except two 
fragments of red deer antlers. There is, therefore, no proof that Silbury 
was sepulchral. 

Evening Proceedings. 

On regaining Marlborough the Club visited the church of St. Mary, 
which was shown them by the Vicar (the Rev. A. E. G. Peters). It is 
an interesting if unlovely example of a church built in the Common- 
wealth period. The old church having been almost entirely burnt 



MARLBOROUGH. XXxiii. 

down in the great fire of 1653, Cromwell sent briefs through the country 
asking for contributions towards the succour of the poor burghers of 
Marlborough, who thus were enabled to rebuild their church in the same 
year. The best feature of the church is the Norman archway of two 
orders in the western tower, which happily survived the fire. 

The Club dined at the Ailesbury Arms, the President (Mr. Richard- 
son) being supported by a large company. 

Afterwards six new Members were elected by ballot, and the Hon. 
Secretary announced three new nominations. 

The party then adjourned to the Court Room at the Town Hall 
where Mr. St. George Gray followed up the visit to Avebury that 
day by giving a lecture on the place and the excavations, illustrated 
by a series of lantern slides, made from photographs taken by himself. 
Speaking with cautious reserve, in answer to the question so repeatedly 
put as to the date of the place, Mr. Gray observed that, so far, the 
evidence adduced pointed to it being either of the early Bronze Age or 
the late Neolithic, and, if so, of greater antiquity than the better 
known and more spectacular Stonehenge. 

Second Day. 
Wednesday. 

Knowle Chapel and Gravel Pits. 

The parish of Great Bedwyn contains this desecrated chapel, 19ft. 
Gin. by 12ft. 9in., the chief feature of which is the 14th Century windows, 
now bricked up. It was, said Mr. Doran Webb, one of a series 
of domestic chapels in that neighbourhood. 

Dr. Colley March then described many points of interest in con- 
nection with the gravel jait adjoining Knowle House, a spot often 
visited by those in search of flint implements. 

Froxfield Almshouses. 

Shortly afterwards the party were standing inside a large quadrangle 
of two-storeyed tenements in the mellowed brickwork of the 17th 
Century. In the centre of the sward rose an early 19th century chapel, 
an architectural anachronism. This quadrangle forms the Froxfield 
Almshouses, as they are now generally called, or the Somerset Hospital, 
founded and endowed for the benefit of 50 widows (20 of the clergy 
and 30 of laymen) by Sarah, Dowager Duchess of Somerset, in 1694. 

Mr. Doran Webb pointed out the oldest tenements, late Caroline 
or James II., the gatehouse and the chapel being built in what is 
known as the " Batty Langley " style. 

The Duchess of Somerset also founded a system of apprenticeship 
available for youths in the counties of Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, and 



XXXIV. MARLBOROUGH. 

Devon. As for the almshouses, it was hard to conceive a better laid 
out block of buildings. 

LiTTLECOTE HaLL. 

A short drive brought the party to Littlecote Hall, possessing the 
distinction of being the finest 16th Century house in the whole land, 
with the possible exception of Haddon Hall. It was by the courtesy 
of the present occupant of this historic place, Mr. Leopold Hirsch, that 
the club visited it. 

Mr. DoRAN Webb traced the history of Littlecote from the 13th 
century, when the owner was Roger de Calston, whose son of the 
same name succeeded to the property, and in 1341 applied to the Bishop 
of Salisbury for a licence to hear mass in his oratory at Littlecote. 
By the marriage of the granddaughter and heiress of John de Calston 
with William Darell, younger son of Sir William Darell, of Yorkshire, 
the property passed into the hands of that family, who held it until 
1589, when, on the death of William Darell, it went to his cousin, John 
Popham, afterwards, from 1592 to 1G07, Chief Justice of the Court of 
Queen's Bench. The present house was built by the father of the last 
William Darell, replacing an older structure. 

Mr. Webb then accompanied the party in their tour through the 
rooms, pointing out the objects of interest and commenting on the 
many traditions associated with the building. 

On quitting the house the club enjoyed a ramble through the 
gardens. Before leaving, the President, in the name of the Club, 
expressed their thanks to Mr. Hirsch for his kindness in receiving 
them. 

Ramsbury. 

After luncheon at the Bell Inn, Ramsbury, the Club, under the guid- 
ance of Mr. Doran Webb, visited the Church of the Holy Cross, built 
practically on the site of the ancient cathedral of Ramsbury — the only 
West Saxon cathedral, founded at the beginning of the tenth century. 
There they saw a problem in architecture worked out, for the church 
was originally cruciform, but later, probably in the 14th Century, 
the walls of the aisles were taken down and re-erected flush with those 
of the transepts, by which means the transepts were absorbed into the 
aisles, and what the church lost in dignity it gained in size. The most 
interesting thing in the church is a section of the upright shaft of a 
jDreaehing cross with carving of Scandinavian type, erected probably 
in 908, when the first Bishop of Salisbury was consecrated to minister 
to the spiritual needs of the still half savage West Saxons. 

Mr. Doran Webb and Mr. St. George Gray were heartily thanked for 
their valuable services as guides, and the party then drove back to 
Marlborough and took train for Dorset. 



INTENDED MEETING IN THE CERNE VALLEY. XXXV. 

THE INTENDED MEETING IN THE CERNE VALLEY. 
On Tuesday, 21th August. 

When the Field Club assembled at the S.W.R. Station, Dorchester, 
to carry out the programme which had been arranged, many of the 
Members heard for the first time of the fatal accident which had 
befallen the Rev. C. W. H. Dicker on the previous day. 

Mr. Nelson M. Richardson, in announcing the sad occurrence, 
paid an appreciative tribute to the memory of their Hon. Editor, and 
proposed that a message of condolence should be sent by the Club 
to Mr. Dicker's son and sisters. This resolution was seconded by the 
Rev. Herbert Pentin, and carried. 

It was also unanimously decided to adjourn the meeting for one 
month, and the Members then dispersed. 



^ 



XXXVl. THE UPPER YEO VALLEY. 

THIRD SUMMER MEETING. 

The Upper Yeo Valley. 

Wednesday, Wih September. 

The Members and their guests, who met at Pen Mill Rail- 
way Station, numbered about eighty, including the three 
Members of the Executive and four Vice-Presidents. 

Trent Church. 

The party drove first to Trent Church, where they were received by 
the Rector, the Rev. T. G. Wilton, who described the chief features of 
interest. Among these were the oak screen of the 15th Century, the 
carved bencli-ends of a century later, the chauntry chapel built in 
memory of John French, a parishioner, who was Master of the Rolls 
under Henry VI., and three pre-Reformation bells. The Register 
contains a reference to the battle of Babylon Hill in 1642. 

The Rev. E. H. Bates Harbin then contributed some notes on 
John Coker, the supposed author of the " Survey of Dorset," and 
showed that the history was in fact written by Thomas Gerard, a 
resident of Trent. After the exterior of the church and the spire had 
been inspected, Mr. Alfred Pope drew attention to the mutilated 
shaft of a cross, standing upon a circular calvary of 12 feet in diameter, 
and mentioned a tradition that the cross had been moved from the 
village into the churchyard. 

The Rector next pointed out the chantry priest's house, a beautiful 
little dwelling with 15th century windows, and the larger " Church 
House," said to have been once a refectory, but for the last 300 years 
the home of successive churchwardens. 

Trent Manor House was then visited under the guidance of Mr. E 
A. Rawlence, who related to the Members the stirring incidents of 
the year 1651, when Charles II. took refuge with Colonel Wyndham 
after the battle of Worcester. Mr. Rawlence led the way to the King's 
chamber and the actual hiding place beneath the floor, which latter 
had been recently discovered during the structural alterations then 
in progress. 

Wyke Grange. 

A pleasant drive brought the party to the moated farmhouse which 
'■s said, probably with truth, to have been used by the Abbots of Sher- 
borne as their summer quarters. The manor was afterwards held by 
the family of Horsey for a long period, and some documents relating 



THE UPPER YEO VALLEY. XXXVii. 

to these lands can be found in the Fry collection at the museum in 
Dorchester. Over the main door is the date 1650, the year in which 
the building was restored or altered. Among the attractions of the 
place are two mediaeval barns with fine timbered roofs. 

Bradfoed Abbas Church. 

The Rev. Canon Wickham received the visitors and sketched for 
them the history of the church from its construction by Abbot Brad- 
ford, of Sherborne, about 1480. The style is Perpendicular throughout, 
the material employed being Hamdon stone. At the eastern end of 
the south wall stands a small doorway, or priests' porch, which was 
much admired, as were the armorial corbels in the nave. The tower is 
justly regarded as the best example of its class within the county, 
indeed, those who saw it for the first time might well have believed 
that they were over the border in Somerset. 

Mr. Alfred Pope commented upon the shaft and steps of the 
churchyard cross, which is in a fair state of preservation, and assigned 
its date to the fifteenth century. 

Clifton Maybank. 

By the permission of Mr. Daniell, who was away from home, the 
Club was enabled to inspect the exterior of the Manor House and its 
surroundings. 

The Hon. Secretary observed that they were then looking at a 
portion only of the great house wherein the Horseys lived in the 
sixteenth century, the builder of which was probably Sir John, who 
died in the year of the Armada. The ancient gateway, attributed to 
Inigo Jones, had been taken down and removed to the park at Hinton 
St. George, and a portion of the main fabric was transferred !jo 
Montacute House. 

Chief among the surviving architectural details is the magnificent 
oriel window placed high up in the wall of the western, or garden, 
front. There was, at one time, a chapel adjoining the house, but 
nothing more than the turf-covered foundations are now to be seen. 
Some pieces of sacramental plate are, however, still preserved in 
Bradford Abbas church. 

Newton Surma ville. 
The Rev. E. H. Bates Harbin, addressing the Members assembled 
near the porch of his Jacobean home, said that he knew the unbroken 
history of that manor from the period when Emma de Waie married 
a member of the Norman family of Salmunvill. This lady died in 
1221, owning lands in Niveton and leaving PhiUp de Salmunvill as 
her son and nearest heir. The manor was owned by several other 



XXXViii. THE UPPER YEO VALLEY. 

families before it was acquired in 1608 by Robert Harbin, of Wyke, 
near Gillingham, who built the existing house and finished it in 1612. 

The party was then conducted through the house and had full 
opportunity for examining the many treasures, artistic and literary, 
which were to be seen. Among these were memorials of the Wynd- 
hams, of Trent, and Charles II. 

The Club was afterwards entertained at tea by Mr. and Mrs. Bates 
Harbin, who were cordially thanked by the President for their 
hospitality and kindly welcome. 

A plate of Newton Surmaville accompanies the report of this 
meeting. 



^ 



THE CERNE VALLEY. XXxix. 

FOURTH SUMMER MEETING. 

The Cerne Valley. 
Tuesday, 2Mh September {adjourned from 21th August). 

Mr. Nelson M. Richardson, the Rev. H. Pentin, and the 
Rev. Canon Mansel-Pleydell were accompanied on this, the 
last outdoor meeting of the year, by nearly eighty Members 
and their friends. A start was made from Dorchester, the 
first halting place being Charminster Church, where the Club 
was received by the Ven. Archdeacon Dundas, who had 
prepared a paper dealing with the architectural and historical 
features of the building. 

The oldest parts of the chui-ch, the Archdeacon observed, were the 
nave and the chancel arch, dating from the third quarter of the 12th 
Century. The clerestory contains, not only six Perpendicular windows, 
three on each side, inserted in the 15th century, but also, between 
them, four small Norman windows, two on each side. These 
were discovered and opened out in the course of the successful 
restoration effected in 1897 under the direction of Mr. Chas. 
E. Pouting, F.S.A. The south arcade was remarkably like that 
at Bere Regis, so like as to suggest that the same architect 
was responsible for the design. Although the arches of the bays 
were pointed, yet it was erroneous to suppose that they were of 
later date than the semi-circular chancel arch. The original chancel, 
28 feet deep and wider than the present one, was pulled down in the 
Civil Wars under an agreement between the impropriator and the 
parishioners. The existing chancel, neither large nor interesting, 
was built only 80 or 90 years ago. Attention was called to such other 
features as the handsome panelling in Ham Hill stone of the soffits of 
the three tower arches, the hagioscope, the original stone newel stair- 
case leading into the roodloft, and the two beautiful 15th Century 
canopied altar tombs of the Trenchard family, now standing in the 
south aisle ; the Jacobean pulpit, and the ancient texts and decorations 
in fresco on the wall, including a diapering in a conventional treatment 
of what Mr. Micklethwaite pronounced to be a Spanish pomegranate. 
The north aisle was rebuilt, of the same width as the nave, in 1838, 
when the original Perpendicular windows were reinserted. The oak 
altar rails, the Archdeacon continued, were carved by the late Rev. C. 
W. H. Dicker. 



Xl. THE CERNE VALLEY. 

Outside the church door the Archdeacon pointed out the 
priest's sundial, meant to show the time of the early Mass ; but chief 
attention was claimed by the tower, erected about 1500 by Sir Thomas 
Trenchard, of Wolfeton, whose initials, the Old English double T, in 
monogram, appear in no less than 24 places. 

Mr. Alfred Pope, F.S.A., spoke upon a most interesting find 
recently made — a portion of the shaft of a 15th or 16th century cross, 
originallj^ an unequal-sided octagon, embedded in the western end of 
the churchyard boundary wall. By the Archdeacon's leave it has 
lately been taken out and placed against the southern wall of the 
church — a welcome addition to " The Old Stone Crosses of Dorset." 

Cerne Abbas. 

The party then drove on to Cerne Abbas, and alighted at the Abbey 
Barn. Here they were received by the Vicar (the Rev. H. D. Gundry) 
who acted as the Club's cicerone in Cerne. He recalled the late Mr. 
Henry Moule's enthusiasm for that barn, and his computation that 
not fewer than 125,000 flints, each shaped by hand, were used in its 
construction. He also asked the visitors to realise the great loss 
suffered in the destruction of the original timbering of the roof, although 
the late General Pitt Rivers was hajDpily able to preserve the timber 
in the two porches, and did good service in having the barn solidly 
re-roofed in stone tile. 

From the barn Jlr. Gundry led the way to the parish church. Of 
the lofty tower, in rich dark-brown stone, he spoke with admiration, 
and then deplored the decadence of the poor debased Gothic in the 
nave arcades and windows. The great Perpendicular east window 
with its ancient glass, must have come from a much larger building, 
probably the Abbey Church itself, since there was not room to insert 
the whole of thcwindow, and the lower part had to be sacrificed. 

From the church the party walked to St. Augustine's Well, about 
which the Vicar repeated the familiar legends. The Hon. Secretary 
(the Rev. Herbert Pentin) said he believed, with Mr. Gundry, that 
the Augustinian traditions relating to Cerne were mere fables. That 
fount was not called St. Austin's or St. Augustine's Well by William 
of Malmesbury, but " Silver Well." 

Dr. CoLLEY March mentioned that the partial covering of that well 
with stones indicated that probably its borders were used io't "in- 
cubation." The sick person came and lay there for a night or nights 
until some vision api^eared and gave directions for his cure. 

Mr. Gundry next led the way to the ruins of the Abbey. He pointed 
to the reputed site of the Abbey Church — alongside the present 
cemetery ; any digging along the wall brought to light the 
encaustic tiles with which the church was paved. 



THE CERNE VALLEY. xli. 

The party then inspected the guest house or refectory, a building 
mainly of the second half of the 15th century, with certain windows 
and a doorway added at a later date. In this building occurs the 
oriel window, which delighted the architects who visited the place a 
few years ago. Mr. H. Le Jeune had called attention to the serious 
list which the building was showing, threatening the collapse of the 
wall containing the oriel. This wall is now stoutly shored up with 
timbers. 

Canon Mansel-Pleydell assured the party that Mr. A. L. F. Pitt- 
Rivers, the owner of the property, was as anxious as any member of 
the Club could be that the structure and window should be 
preserved, and would do everything possible for its preservation. 

MiNTERNE AND UPCERNE. 

The party next drove, via Dogberry Gate, to IMinterne, where the 
Rev. W. G. Barclay, in the absence of Lord Digby, showed the Flemish 
tapestries which adorn the house. 

On returning, the Members made a short visit to Upcerne House 
to inspect its Tudor architecture. Colonel Mount Batten, who had 
intended to entertain the Club at the postponed meeting of 27th 
August, was then away from home. 

The party took tea at the New Inn, Cerne. 

Afterwards, five candidates were elected by ballot as members of 
the club, and the Hon. Secretary announced three further nomina- 
tions. 



^ 



Xlii. THE FIRST WINTER MEETING. 



WINTER SESSION, 1912-13. 

The first Winter Meeting of the Field Club was held in the 
Reading Room of the County Museum, Dorchester, on 
Tuesday, 10th December, 1912. The President (Mr. Nelson 
M. Richardson) took the chair at 12.30, and among those 
present were the Hon. Secretary and the Hon. Treasurer. 

Three candidates for membership Avere elected by ballot, 
and four nominations Avere announced. 

Sir Daniel Morris, K.C.M.G., read his report as the Club's 
delegate to the British Association meetings at Dundee in 
September last. 

The Conference of delegates of Corresponding Societies was held 
under the Chairmanship of Professor F. O. Bower, F.R.S., of 
Glasgow, who delivered an opening address on the work of the great 
botanist, Sir Joseph Hooker, G.C.S.I., F.R.S., who was also 
distinguished as a traveller and geographer, an administrator, a 
scientific systematist, and a philosophical biologist. 

The official list showed seventy representatives of affiliated societies 
and nineteen representatives of associated bodies. 

The following were among the subjects discussed at the Conference. 

(a) The results obtained by the British Mycological Society on 
certain Fungoid Pests, by Miss A. Lorrain Smith, F.L.S. 

(6) A preliminarjr report on the Selborne Society's Committee for the 
State Protection of Wild Plants, by Mr. A. R. Horwood. 

(c) The Brent Valley Bird Sanctuary : An Experiment. Plant 
Protection (with lantern illustrations), by Mr. Wilfred Mark Webb, 
F.L.S. 

(d) Water Power and Industrial Development in connection with the 
Highland Lochs, by Mr. Alexander Newlands. 

Proposals relating to the Protection of Animals were touched upon 
by Dr. Chalmers Mitchell, F.R.S., in his address as President of Section 
D (Zoology) and in respect of the Protection of Plants it received the 
support of Section K (Botany). 

At the Conference on the second day (Sept. 10th) a resolution was 
proposed by Mr. G. C. Druce, F.L.S., seconded by Mr. W. Whitaker, 
F.R.S., and carried, "That this meeting cordially approves of the objects 
of the Society recently established for the purpose of obtaining areas 
containing interesting specimens of fauna and flora, and also objects 
of geological interest." In an address by the Hon. N. C. Rothschild 



THE FIRST WINTER MEETING. xliii. 

on " Nature Reserves," he announced that a Society for the promotion 
of reserves was in course of formation and would shortly issue its 
prospectus. This was regarded as giving promise of effective practical 
measures. 

Mr. E. A. Fry, who had been the Club's delegate at the 
Congress of Archaeological Societies in London in June last, 
had forwarded his notes upon the subjects which were then 
discussed. (A print of the report was already in the hands 
of the Members.) The Hon. Secretary read Mr. Fry's 
observations, which more particularly referred to (1) the 
indexes of archgeological papers, the utility of which merited 
a larger demand by the affiliated societies ; (2) the inclusion 
of Ecclesiastical buildings within the scope of the Ancient 
Monuments Act, a proposal which was adopted by the 
Congress ; and (3) the continued destruction or mutilation of 
earthworks. 

Captain Acland remarked that the Golf Club at Came were 
said to have caused damage to barrows on the links ; but he 
had been recently assured that only once had a small 
mound been cut, and that such a thing would not be done 
again. 

The President moved a resolution to elect Mr. Henry 
Symonds as Hon. Editor. The proposal was seconded by 
Colonel Mainwaring, supported by the Hon. Secretary, 
and approved by the Members. 

The President then announced that Mr. H. Stilwell, who 
had edited the Dorset rainfall reports for many years, desired 
to relinquish the office, and he asked the meeting to accord a 
hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Stilwell for his work in that field 
of science. A resolution inviting Mr. Stevenson Henshaw, 
C.E., of Portland, to undertake the duties was proposed and 
adopted, at the suggestion of Mr. Stilwell. 

The following gifts had been received, of which the 
President made due acknowledgment : — Mr. E. A. Frj', 
some documents to be added to the collection already pre- 
sented by him ; Mr. Forsyth, a case of beetles ; J\Ir. Wingfield 
Digby, two oak logs. 



xliv. THE FIRST WINTER MEETING. 

Exhibits. 

By Mr. Henry Symonds, (1) an original letter of marque 
issued in 1803 to the East Indiaman United Kingdom ; (2) a 
cast from a half-crown of the Civil War period, showing 
" S A " on the obverse, which letters had caused the coin to 
be attributed to a mint at Sarum. As the general type was 
very similar to that of the Weymouth half-crowns of 1643-4 
the exhibitor believed that it was struck at Sandsfoot Castle 
during the siege. 

By Mr. E. A. Rawlence, a stone corn pounder and a stone 
fire-kindling pot (?) recently found near Sherborne Castle. 

By the Hon. Secretary, an original copy of a " Sermon 
preached at the Anniversary Meeting of the Dorchester 
Gentlemen in the Church of St. Mary-le-Bow, Dec. 1, 
1691, by Tho: Lindesay a.m." .(The author was a native 
of Blandford, and became Archbishop of Armagh.) See 
Proceedings, Vol. XXXII., pp. xxix., xxxii. 

By Mr. C. G. H. Dicker, two " greybeard " jugs dug up in 
his garden at Upwey in October, 1912. The President had 
prepared the following note in connection with these vessels. 

The two very similar jugs found by Mr. Dicker buried a very short 
distance below the surface, probably date from the 17th century 
They are generally known as Bellarmines or greybeards, from the fact 
that the face below the spout was taken to represeht Cardinal Bellar- 
mine, who in the latter half of the 16th century was unpopular as one 
of the strongest opponents to the Reformation, but the decoration of 
a face under the spout of a jug dates from a much earlier period. The 
material of the jugs is a stoneware, glazed with salt at a very high 
temperature, and is very hard and impervious. The manufacture 
of this ware in its more finished and refined forms was carried on at 
many places in Germany and the Low Countries from the early part 
of the 16th century, but coarser stoneware articles had been made 
there for a long i^eriod. In the 16th and 17th centuries, and later, 
articles of many different shapes were made, often decorated with 
raised coats of arms, lettering, and various ornaments. The jugs like 
the Upwey examples were made at more than one factory, but that at 
Frechen near Cologne seems to have been their chief source. Immense 
numbers of them were used in the inns of Germany and Flanders 
as beer bottles, and they were also very largely imported into England 



THE FIRST WINTER MEETING. xlv. 

for the same purpose, so that most of those found in this country are 
probably of German origin. But it is hkely that they were also made 
in England, perhaps in various places, though the only distinct piece 
of evidence of this is the finding of a few, together with other pots, in 
a walled-up room at Fulham, where one of the most distinguished of 
English potters, John Dwight, worked in the latter part of the 17th 
century. Other more artistic productions of Dwight's are known, 
and these beer jugs were, from the circumstances, almost undoubtedly 
made by him, though they are so like some of the foreign ones, that 
had it not been for the fortunate find alluded to above, there would have 
been nothing by which they could have been distinguished with cer- 
tainty. It is now impossible to say whether such jugs as the present 
ones were made here or abroad, though the probabilities point to the 
latter. The only undoubted one of Dwight's Bellarmines that I have 
seen (in the British Museum) is smoother in surface and not so mottled 
as these, but some of the jugs found in England are much more richly 
mottled, and have the dark patches much larger. The concentric 
rings on the bottom of these jugs are caused by the clay being cut 
through with a wire, as grocers cut cheese. I doubt whether it is 
known how the jugs were corked ; perhaps with wooden plugs. Though 
these beer jugs or bottles must 200 years ago have been in use in count- 
less numbers, and though they do not look as if they would easily be 
destroyed, yet now they are not often met with, and it is fortunate 
that these have fallen into the hands of one like Mr. Dicker, who 
appreciates their antiquarian interest, and will take every care of them. 

Papers. 

1. Dr. H. CoLLEY March, F.S.A., read a paper on " Scando- 
Gothic Art in Wessex, suggested by the Sculptured Stones 
recently discovered at Whitcombe," Avliich is printed and 
illustrated in this volume. 

2. Mr. E. A. Rawlence described the circumstances 
attending the find of two buried oaks at Butterwick in Black- 
more Vale, and exhibited photographs and plans of the sites. 
The geological questions involved were discussed in some 
notes kindly sent by Dr. W. T. Ord, F.G.S. 

The dry summer of 1911 led to the discovery of this long-buried 
timber in the bed of the stream running from Holnest to Buckshaw, 
near to the point where it joins the stream from Glanvilles Wootton. 
The Holnest river having become quite dry, the deposits of gravel were 
being used for road purposes, and in the course of these operations 
the first oak tree was found under the bed of the stream. This log. 



xlvi. THE FIRST WINTER MEETING. 

16ft. by 2ft. at the butt, was lying in gravel, with 4ft. 3in. of alluvial 
clay and 1ft. of solid blue clay over the butt. Underneath the tree 
was found a roe deer's antler. The second oak was in a similar position 
in the gravel about fifty yards up stream, but the tree had fallen in the 
reverse direction, viz., towards the north. Its dimensions were 20ft. 6in. 
by 2ft. 6in., and the clays above it were of practically the same 
thickness as those covering the earlier find. Remants of broken limbs 
of the second oak were lying near, and a pointed oak pile was found 
driven into the river bed below the level of the log, but not connected 
with it. In each case the head of the tree lay 3ft. under the clay of the 
banks. The wood of both logs was in excellent condition, the colour 
approximating to that of Irish bog oak. Dr. Ord, in the course of 
his notes, remarked that the points of interest raised by these discoveries 
were (a) the age of deposition of the gravel beds in which the logs 
occurred, (6) whether the deposit was in its original position, or had 
been washed down from higher beds of an earlier period, (c) the period 
to which the pile should be assigned. He thought there could be little 
doubt that the gravel was laid down by the stream, probably at a time 
when the natural drainage system of the country was much the same as 
at present, the period of such river deposits usually corresponding with 
the Neolithic age of human occupation. The existing water shed of the 
district south of Sherborne suggested that the material in which the 
logs were found came from the chalk hills to the south-west ; from these 
hills there would bo a fall of about 600ft. to the Oxford clay through 
which the stream flowed, in less than 31 miles. 

3. Mr. Heywood Sumner, F.S.A., contributed a paper 
on the Earthworks of Cranborne Chase, ilhistrated by man}^ 
plans which he had drawn. The paper is printed in this 
vokime. 

4. A paper bv Mr. F. J. Pope, F.R.Hist.S., on Dorset 
Assizes in the Seventeenth Centiirj^, could not be read owing 
to the lateness of the hour, but the communication will be 
found on a subsequent page. 



^'7^ 



THE SECOND WINTER MEETING. xlvii. 

SECOND WINTER MEETING. 

Tuesday, 2Sth January, 1913. 

Mr. N. M. Richardson presided, and among those who 
attended were the Rev. Herbert Pentin, Canon Mansel- 
Pleydell, Captain Elwes, Mr. E. R. Sykes, F.Z.S., and Mr. 
Alfred Pope, F.S.A. Three candidates for membership were 
elected by ballot, and the Hon. Secretary read a list of eight 
additional nominations. 

Exhibits. 

The President exhibited " The Paraphrase of Erasmus on 
the New Testament, 1548 — 9," — a translation of the original 
work in Latin written by Erasmus chiefly in 1523 and 1524, 
one portion as early as 1519. In the earlier version the 
paraphrase is continuous, with no text ; but in the transla- 
tion the Bible text is split up into small portions, each of 
which is followed by a dissertation, with prefaces, prologues, 
and arguments before most of the different books. It seemed 
that Queen Catherine Parr had much to do with the initiation 
and carrying out of this work, and the first five dedications 
were to her. Perfect copies were rare, as the book was much 
used, and few Church copies were likely to have survived 
Mary's reign, as all English Church Bibles were then ordered 
to be destroyed. 

Lieut. -Colonel Mainwaring brought the larva and pupa^ of 
the Cicada, or singing grasshopper, found in Central America. 
The male insect possesses considerable vocal powers, but the 
female is mute. Specimens of the smaller English Cicada 
were also exhibited by the President. 

Captain Acland, F.S.A., produced a series of photographs of 
the excavations carried out at Maumbury during August and 
September, 1912 ; these plates will accompany IMr. Gray's 
report printed in this volume. Captain Acland then drew 
attention to a model of the earthwork lent by the Brighton 



xlviii. THE SECOND WINTER MEETING. 

Museum, to which it had been presented by the late Mr. Charles 
Warne. 

Mr. Alfred Pope, F.S.A., exhibited a charm of lapis lazuli 
worn by Hindoo women, with a calendar and the signs of the 
Zodiac inscribed upon it. 

Papers. 

Canon J. M. J. Fletcher read a paper on "St. Cuthburga of 
Wimborne Minster," based upon a translation which he had 
made of a Latin manuscript now in the Lansdowne Collection 
in the British Museum, and formerly preserved in Romsey 
Abbey. 

Mr. J. S. Udal, F.S.A., read a paper entitled " Dorset 
Weather Lore ;" several members took part in a discussion 
upon the subject. 

The Rev. 0. Pickard-Cambridge contributed a paper on 
" New and Rare British Arachnids," which was read by the 
President, in the absence of the author. 

Mr. Richardson also read the introduction, prepared by 
himself, to notes upon the Lepidoptera of Purbeck, by 
Mr. Eustace Bankes. 

A paper dealing Avith the brewers of Sherborne in 1383, by 
Mr. E. A. Fry, was read on his behalf by the Hon. Secretary. 

Mr. W. de C. Prideaux had promised a further instalment of 
his descriptions and rubbings of Dorset memorial brasses, 
but illness in his family prevented him from attending the 
meeting. 



THE ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING. xlix. 

ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING. 
Tuesday, Qth May, 1913. 

This meeting was held in the reading room of the Dorset 
County Museum, the chair being taken by the President, 
Mr. Nelson M. Richardson, at 12.30. Among those who 
attended were the Rev. H. Pentin, Canon Mansel-Pleydell, 
Captain Elwes, and Mr. Clement Reid, F.R.S. 

Seven new members were elected by ballot, and six nomin- 
ations for membership were announced by the Hon. Secretary. 

Mr. W. de C. Prideaux exhibited a number of rubbings of 
memorial brasses and described their points of mterest, calling 
particular attention to the brass of Dr. Nathaniel Highmore, 
an anatomist of the 17th century. 

The President then delivered his ninth annual address, 
which is printed in this volume. 

Mr. Clement Reid, in proposing a vote of thanks to the 
President for his valuable address, remarked that Mi*. Richard- 
son had modestly omitted any reference to his own research 
work, but they all knew how^ much he was doing for the 
advancement of science. The proposal was seconded by 
Canon Usherwood and carried A\'ith applause. 

Canon Mansel-Pleydell, the Hon. Treasurer, presented a 
statement of the accounts for 1912, which showed that the 
year ended with an increased credit balance. Captain Elwes, 
in moving the adoption of the accounts, congratulated the 
Treasurer on the satisfactory result,' and the President 
expressed his appreciation of the management of the Club's 
finances. 

The Rev. Herbert Pentin reported, as Hon. Secretary, 
that the number of members during the past year had 
fluctuated between 390 and 400, the hmit. 'Mi. Pentin also 
referred to the successful meetings of the previous summer, 
and produced an audited account of the expenses, showing 
a balance in hand. 



1. THE ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING. 

The report of the Hon. Editor as to the forthcoming 
volume was read by Mr. Henry Symonds, who observed 
that the Club was indebted to Dr. Colley March, Mr. Hay- 
wood Sumner, and the Maumbury Excavation Committee for 
providing or contributing towards the cost of the illustrations 
for their respective papers. 

Mr. C. J. Cornish Browne, the Hon. Director of the Photo- 
graphic Survey, reported that 107 photographs had been 
added to the collection since the last annual meeting, viz., 
25 by the Rev. J. Ridley, one by Mr. C. Mate, and 81 by the 
Director. 

Mr. T. H. R. Winwood read the following notes prepared 
by Captain Acland, the Curator of the Museum, concerning 
the additions to the Library and Museum during the past 
twelve months — 

I have much pleasure in taking this opportunity of bringing to 
the notice of the Dorset Field Club some of the acquisitions to the 
County Museum since the last Annual Meeting. 

In the Geological section the Oxford Clay Fossils have been examined, 
and where necessary re-named by Dr. A. Morley Davies, of South 
Kensington, in accordance with the most recent classification, who in 
returning them drew special attention to one specimen, saying " this 
Ammonite belongs to a genus Reineckia, very rare in England ; it is 
a beautiful specimen showing the mouth border on one side, and it 
should be given a place of honour." 

Printed labels will now be attached to this series, in the same manner 
as was done to some others with the help of the late Mr. Hudleston 
and our President, Mr. Nelson Richardson. 

As additions to our collection of birds we have had a Golden Oriole, 
taken at Wrackleford, and two specimens of the Little Owl, one from 
Came, the other from Owermoigne. It is of interest to note that during 
last summer another of the same species was taken near Wool, and a 
fourth was seen at Kingston Russell. 

A folio Volume, an Herbarium dated 1766, has at last found a home 
in the Museum. It contains botanical specimens collected by Dr. 
Hawkins, of Weymouth, which are considered of much value, as they 
belong to such a distant period. They are, however, by no means all 
found in Dorset. The book is presented by Mr. Winwood. 

Some pieces of ancient buried oak exhibited here recently by Mr. 
Rawlence were presented by him to the Museum ; the details of their 
discovery will appear in the Volume of Proceedings. 



THE ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING. li. 

We have also acquired, through the kindness of Mr. Forsyth, a 
collection of beetles, M'hich have been placed in the cabinet of 
Lepidoptera, under the special care of Mr. Richardson. 

With the exception of a few more objects from Maumbury Rings, 
nothing of special interest has been acquired for the collection of either 
Roman or prehistoric antiquities ; but of objects nearer to our own 
time we have obtained some good exhibits, viz., a large and terrible- 
looking man-trap from Pydeltrenthide ; a massive pole hook for 
clearing thatch off the roofs of burning houses ; the barrel of a musket 
from the Chesil Bank, completely covered with shells and sea pebbles ; 
a good example of a metal tinder box, found under the eaves of an 
old house in Dorchester ; and a XVI. or early XVII. century chair 
retaining the original leather, presented by Mr. de Lafontaine. 

The Library has been enriched by some volumes worthy of mention, 
partly by purchase, but partly also by the kindness of donors. Among 
the former I may mention Mr. Abercromby's " Bronze Age Pottery," 
finely illustrated and containing plates of a large number of the 
Sepulchral Urns now in the Dorset County Museum, and of objects 
found with the burials. This work is described by the author as an 
attempt to arrange in chronological order the chief types of cinerary 
urns, beakers, and food vessels, and will probably become a standard 
book. The Dictionary of National Biography has been completed by 
the purchase of the three supplementary volumes, which deal with 
the years 1901 to 1911. The only Volume yet published of the County 
of Dorset in the Victoria History of the Counties of England has been 
obtained ; curiously enough, it is called Volume Two ; it deals with 
the Ecclesiastical History, Political History, Sport, Industries, &c. 
And partly by purchase, partly through the generosity of Dr. Colley 
March, we have added 31 Volumes to the series of Archasologia. The 
Library now contains a set (51 Vols.) of these valuable books, from 
Vol. 28, date 1840, to Vol. 62, of 1911. Haydn's Dictionary of Dates 
and many books of reference useful to Members and Subscribers to 
the Museum have been acquired. 

The Borough Surveyor of Dorchester has presented an interesting 
set of plans and sections measured while the surface drainage scheme 
in Dorchester was being carried out in 1911-1912. These sections 
may prove of much value in any future discussion of the exact site of 
the Roman defences of Durnovaria. They will probably show that 
the Roman Wall on the south side of the town did not run exactly 
parallel to the present avenue and South Walks. 

In addition to the Volumes of " Archseologia " given by Dr. Colley 
March, we have to acknowledge the handsome volume of British 
Miniature Painters by and from Mr. J. J. Foster ; two numbers of 
" Vetusta Monumenta," from Mr. J. S. Udal ; and from the Bishop of 



lii. THE ANNIJAL BUSINESS MEETING. 

Durham a volume of photographs illustrative of buildings and scenes 
in Dorchester now passed away, presented (as he says) " with heartfelt 
affection for his native place, the home of his first 40 years of life." 

At the same time Dr. Handley Moule gave an interesting little book 
entitled " Recollections of Two Coronations," printed for private 
circulation only, together with a framed photograph of himself in 
Coronation robes. The Bishop of Durham has the hereditary right 
to be one of the supporters of the King at the Coronation service, 
standing at his right hand, and no one bishop has supported two 
successive Kings of England since the accession of Queen Anne, and 
with that solitary exception. Dr. Moule remarks, " we must go back 
nearly five centuries to find a Bishop of Durham privileged like myself 
to act at more Coronations than one." 

In conclusion I must allude with pardonable satisfaction to the 

marked increase in the number of visitors to the Museum. During 

the year 1912, 6,140 persons paid for admission, and in addition to 

this number several classes from elementary or secondary schools 

were brought by their teachers for educational purposes. The 

admissions for the last three or four years show a continued and steady 

advance. 

JOHN E. ACLAND. 

Dr. Colley March, in presenting a report from the Earth- 
works Sectional Committee, expressed regret that so small a 
number of replies had been received in answer to the enquiry 
forms, and hoped that other members would send in the 
desired particulars of earthworks in their respective localities. 

" Mansel-Pleydell " AND " Cecil " Medals. 

The President, in the absence of Lord Eustace Cecil, an- 
nounced that the Mansel-Pleydell medal and prize had been 
awarded to Canon T. E. Usherwood for his essay on " Roman 
villas in Dorset," and that the essay Mould be printed in the 
next volume of Proceedings. Mr. Richardson then presented 
the medal and prize to the successful competitor. 

The President also announced that the Cecil medal and 
prize had been won by Mr. Charles Roper, of Chickerell, the 
subject of his essay being " The known sources of supply of 
petroleum oil and its various products." Mr. Roper attended 
the meeting and received the medal and prize at the President's 
hands. 



THE ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING. liii. 

Election of Officers. 

Captain Elwes having proposed that Mx. Nelson Richardson 
should be re-elected as President of the Club, the resolution 
was seconded by Mr. Alfred Pope and unanimously approved. 

Canon Usherwood proposed, and Mr. J. S. Udal seconded, 
a resolution that the Rev. Herbert Pentin be asked to continue 
in the office of Hon. Secretary, with a hearty vote of thanks 
to him for his services in past years. Mr. Pentin, in assenting 
to the wishes of the members, desired to name Mr. H. Pouncy 
as assistant secretary. 

The re-election of Canon Mansel-Pleydell as Hon. Treasurer 
was proposed by Canon Fletcher and seconded by Mr. Udal. 

On the motion of Mr. Alfred Pope, Mr. Henry Symonds was 
re-elected as Hon. Editor. 

The next business was the appointment of the sectional 
committees. 

The Hon. Director and the committee of the Photographic 
Survey were re-elected, as was the Earthworks committee, 
Mr. T. H. R. Winwood being added to the latter. 

The Numismatic sectional committee was also re-appointed. 

The President then nominated the existing Vice-Presidents, 
with the addition of Mr. Henry Symonds and Mr. J. S. Udal, 
and the resolution was adopted. 

Mr. Nigel Bond and Mr. E. A. Fry were appointed as dele- 
gates to represent the Club at the Congress of Archaeological 
Societies in union with the Society of Antiquaries of London. 
Mr. Alfred Pope was asked to attend the forthcoming meeting 
of the British Association as the Club's delegate at the meetings 
of the Corresponding Societies on that occasion. 

It was resolved to hold a two-days' meeting in the district 
of Malmesbury, and three smgle-day meetings, during the 
ensuing summer. 



liv. 



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By NELSON MOORE RICHARDSON, Esq., B.A. 

(Read May 6th, 1913.) 




Obituary. 



T"^t-^ 



N speaking, as I usually do, at the beginning of 
ni}^ Annual Address of those whom we 
have lost by death during the past year, 
the name that will come first to myself 
and to all the older Members of the Club 
is that of IVIrs. Mansel-Pleydell, the widow 
of our first President and founder, whose 
memory we shall always hold in the greatest 
reverence. Mrs. Mansel-Pleydell very often accompanied 
her husband to the Meetings and took the greatest 
interest in everything connected with the Club ; but 
of late years her health has been such as to prevent any 
active exertion, though I know that her interest has never 
ceased. And I am happy to say that we still have a 



president's address. Ivii. 

very valued representative of the family with us as our 
Treasurer. 

The tragic news of the death of Rev. C. W. H. Dicker, 
which was broken to many of us as we assembled for our 
Cerne Meeting, is fresh in our minds. Considering all that he 
did for the Club in different ways, including his three years' 
Editorship of our Volume and the varied knowledge which 
he imparted to us both in papers and at our outdoor meetings, 
it is difficult to believe that he was only a Member for eight 
years ; but some men will do more in such a short period 
than others in a lifetime. Rev. C. R. Baskett, who was also 
suddenly taken from us, w^hen occupied in the noble work of 
starting in life in Canada those who would probably otherwise 
have never had any opportunity of starting at all, was a 
much older Member, having joined our ranks in 1886. He 
had seen, like Mr. Dicker, much of other countries and had a 
great taste for and knowledge of some branches of 
archaeology. In his later years when settled at Monkton, 
he generally attended the Winter Meetings of the Club and 
took part in its doings. I regret to say that my list this year 
also contains the names of six others of our Members, of 
whom Miss Bessie Mayo, a Member since 1902, has 
been, I think, the most amongst us, and was a 
frequent attendant at our Meetings. The others are 
Mr. H. B. Batten, who joined in 1889, Mr. W. E. 
Brennand in 1885, Lt.-General J. P. Carr Glyn in 1898, 
Mr. James Cull in 1890, and Mrs. Alfred Smith in 1906. 
Since writing the above I deeply regret that I have to add to 
this long list the names of no less than four prominent 
Members of our Club. Sir John Charles Robinson, the 
distinguished Art Critic and Collector, joined our ranks in 
1890, and will be specially remembered by us as a Club in 
connection with a meeting at Swanage, where he entertained, 
I believe, the largest number that were ever present at a 
Field Club luncheon and shewed us all the beautiful treasures 
that his house contained. But we are all individually still 
more indebted to him for a vast number of treasures in the 



Iviii. president's address. 

South Kensington (now the Victoria and Albert) Museum, 
acquired by him when he was Director of that Institution, 
and which it would now be impossible to get together, as well 
as for many other acts done by him in his public capacities. 
He has enriched our Dorset Museum with a valuable collection 
of Roman glass, an almost unique fossil turtle's head, and 
other gifts. Some years ago I had much wished to make 
him a Vice-President, but he asked to be excused, as he felt 
that at his age he could not do much for the Club. It is in 
connection with the Dorset County Museum even more than 
the Field Club that the work of Mr. W. Albert Bankes, who 
joined us in 1887, the same year as myself, will be remembered. 
In its early days, it was he who, as Hon. Secretary, was the 
moving spirit of it, and worked hard and continuously in 
conjunction with Mr. Henry Moule, its Curator, to build it up 
towards its present state of excellence, in which it takes a 
high rank amongst local Museums of its class. Besides this, 
Mr. Bankes was always ready to help on any good work that 
was on hand, whether it were Charminster Church restoration, 
or Arts and Crafts, in which he took a special interest, and 
always endeavoured to promote amongst the working classes. 
When a few months ago IMr. Henry Stilwell gave up the 
Editorship of the Dorset Rainfall Returns, I little thought 
that he would be with us for so short a time. The full and 
accurate Rainfall Reports since 1903, during which period 
the number of stations has increased from 50 to 66, bear 
witness to the excellent work he has done for the Club. He 
was a frequent attendant at our Meetings, and will be missed 
in other ways besides his special work. He became a 
Member in 1903. Mr. Walter John Fletcher was one of the 
very few remaining original Members of our Club, and has 
contributed to our Proceedings and taken part in our Meetings 
when he could spare the time from his duties as County 
Surveyor, which post he has held for about 40 years, and 
from his numerous engagements as Architect, to his attain- 
ments in which profession there remain many existing 
monuments. He also interested himself in various local 



president's address. lix. 

matters, in connection with which his loss will cause a 
blank. 

Zoology. 

The Origin of Life — a subject which has probably occupied 
the brains of many of the deepest thinkers of all ages since 
men began to speculate at all on such matters — is the one 
which was chosen by the President of the British Association 
last year for his Address. His own view is that living matter 
was probably gradually evolved from non-living substances, 
a theory which rests at present on evidence of the most 
superficial nature, there being absolutely no direct evidence 
of the evolution of life from mineral substances. One of the 
chief points brought forward is the resemblance of the move- 
ments of some living bodies to those of inorganic 
matter, such as drops of oil, which is, after all, an organic 
product, and may still possess some of the qualities of life. 
The Address is very learned, but not convincing. The 
growth of crystals forms another link in the chain. The 
sections of Zoology and Botany carried on the subject in a 
joint discussion ; but there seemed to be a general feeling 
that the question was at present so purely speculative as to 
be hardly worth arguing about, and even the form which life 
first took when it did come into existence on the earth was a 
point on which there appeared to be great differences of 
opinion. From their probable nature, it is almost impossible 
that any fossils of these earliest living beings should have 
been preserved, as one would expect them to be little more 
than masses of a jelly-like substance, so that, as far as we can 
see at present, the question is likely to remain permanently 
unsolved. 

Whilst speaking of this Address by the President of the 
British Association, there is one remark in the nature of a 
protest that I feel called upon to make. In our Club and 
other Societies with similar objects, including, I should have 
supposed, the British Association, it is an understood rule 



Ix. president's address. 

that no discussion is to take place on the subjects of Religion 
or Politics, whatever views may be held by individual 
Members, and if any statements were made tending to 
provoke such discussion, I should certainly feel it my duty 
to call upon the Member making them to withdraw them. I 
can only regret and offer my protest, in which I am sure that 
I should be supported by the great majority of our Club, 
against the tone of the remarks on portions of the Bible 
made in this Address, which would certainly be offensive to 
many of his hearers, and might well have been omitted 
altogether, especially as he states that he places no reliance 
upon the records to which they refer. 

Beginning with the lowest forms of life with which we are 
at present acquainted, there are about 18 diseases known, 
including yellow fever and rabies, which we have every reason 
to connect with minute parasites, but of so very small a size 
that they will pass through a porcelain filter and cannot be 
detected by microscopes. A great deal of information 
has now been obtained about these and many other diseases, 
both of man and animals, where the parasite is visible in the 
microscope. An interesting Address on this subject, as 
regards animals, Mas given by the President of the South 
African Association for the Advancement of Science, that 
part of the world being particularly fertile in such plagues. 
The Infusorian Paramoecium aurelia, has now been 
parthenogenetically cultivated for more than five years, 
giving more than 3,000 generations from a single individual 
which was originally isolated. In contrast to this enormously 
rapid increase there are individual sea anemones now living, 
which have been in captivity for more than 50 years. Much 
has lately been discovered about the formation of pearls, 
which have either some external particle or parasite for a 
nucleus, or are due to internal causes within the oyster itself. 
A new and very fine addition to our sea fauna is a large 
spider-crab {Homola cuvieri), a specimen of which was taken 
off the Cornish coast and presented to the Plymouth Marine 
Biological Laboratory. Its legs when stretched out cover a 



president's address. Ixi. 

width of about four feet, and its usual habitat is the seas to 
the N. of Africa. The account of the habits of a fish-eating 
spider {Thalassius spenceri, P.-Cambr.) from Natal, is new 
to me and interesting. The body is small Adth long legs, 
and when in quest of prey, it places its two hind legs on a 
stone and the other six on the water, watching for fish. When 
a small one comes within reach, it plunges head and legs 
beneath the surface, holds the fish with its legs and pierces it 
with its poisonous fangs. It then retires to land and eats it. 
The second Entomological Congress was held in 1912 at 
Oxford, and brought together Entomologists from many parts 
of the world with many interesting papers, amongst which I 
may mention one by our member, Sir Daniel Morris, dealing 
amongst other things with the method of reducing insect 
pests by introducing their natural enemies, parasitic or 
otherwise. A valuable collection of Foreign Lepidoptera, 
containing about 150,000 specimens, has been left to the 
nation, enriching the large collections already contained in 
the Nat. Hist. Museum. In the theory of Mimicry m 
Butterflies, a great deal naturally depends upon the assumed 
fact that they are much used as food by birds, but the catching 
or even pursuit of a butterfly by a bird is an incident not 
often witnessed, and the observation of the proceedings of a 
wag-tail, which in 25 minutes caught and ate about 23 
butterflies which had settled on the damp sand by a stream 
in E. Africa, is, I should think, almost unique. The bird 
rejected one butterfly, an Acrcea, as unpalatable. Experi- 
ments in Canada shew the response made by the females of 
luminous insects to a flash by the male when flying above 
her, possibly this occurs in the Enghsh glow-worm. Everyone 
must have noticed the dead flies which sometimes stick to 
the windowpanes and elsewhere, covered with a white mould. 
Attempts have lately been made to cultivate this fungus 
with a view to the destruction of flies, but though the cultiva- 
tion has been successful, there may be difficulties in applying 
it to the fly, which takes the infection by eatmg the spores. 
Stomoxys, the biting fly, very like the common housefly but 



Ixii. president's address. 

with a long, sharp, biting apparatus, is also said to be subject 
to this mould ; but I think much less so, as I do not remember 
to have seen one affected by it. It comes, however, much 
less indoors, and it is there that one generally sees the dead 
victims to the disease. The only creature that I have to 
mention in the fish line (if that be its real position) is a sea- 
serpent, which was seen by several people on board the 
Dover Castle in the Gulf of Guinea on Oct. 17 last. The 
head and neck extended at least 14 feet above sea level, and 
were seen six times in two minutes at a distance of about 
IJ miles. What the animal was is of course problematical, 
but it is suggested that the object might have been the arm 
of one of the gigantic squids which are known to exist, as 
their bodies have been actually found ; or it may, of course, 
have been one of the monsters unknown to science, which it 
seems probable that the sea contains, from the many accounts 
of their appearance. A new bird, the Terek Sandpiper 
{Terekia cinerea), of which four were killed in Kent, has been 
added to the British list, and the Dartford warbler has been 
recorded for the first time in Ireland. Still more interesting 
is the capture at Utrecht, Natal, on Dec. 23, 1912, of a swallow 
which had' a ring placed on its leg in May, 1911, in Stafford- 
shire. As very little seems to be Itnown of the nesting habits 
of that curious duckbilled quadruped, the Platypus, I refer 
to an account of the investigation of three of its burrows, 
which are made high up in the river bank. One contained 
two eggs, another one, the third a female and two lately- 
hatched young, one of which clung very firmly to its mother. 
When the young are hatched, the female blocks the burrows 
in two or three places with earth, either against water or 
enemies. It is satisfactory to be able to state that a thriving 
colony of the Elephant seal, which was threatened with 
extinction through being killed in large quantities for its 
oil up to about 1852, has been lately found on the island of 
Guadalupe, California, and will be protected. The first 
living specimens of the Pigmy hippopotamus {H. liberiensis) 
have reached Europe, and one is established in the Regent's 



PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. Ixiii. 

Park gardens. An Indian elephant has been born in the 
Copenhagen gardens, this being only the third instance of 
the kind in Europe, one of which was in London in 1903. 
The Field of Nov. 9 last contains a photograph of the nest 
or sleeping platform of an ourang-outang made by it in a 
tree near its cage in the London gardens on the evening of 
Nov. 3. An account has lately been published of the work 
done in the N. Atlantic during the cruise of the " Michael 
Sars." Besides investigation of ocean currents, the deposits 
of stones, some glaciated, on the ocean bed, have been sampled, 
much new information as to the early stages of eels has been 
obtained, and the extraordinary abundance of minute plant 
life in some parts of the sea has been shewn, the plants being 
so small as to pass through the finest silk net. In his Address 
to the Zoological Section of the British Association the 
President gives particulars of a melancholy list of animals 
recently persecuted to extinction by man, and of others 
which are on the verge, and recommends strict game laws 
and the establishment of large sanctuaries which would be 
in the widest sense developments of the Zoological Gardens, 
in which in all ages it has been the amusement and interest 
of princes and others to keep the strange animals of foreign 
countries. It would seem, through information supplied 
on schedules which were circulated, that a decrease has been 
taking place during the last few years in certain British 
migratory birds, especially the whitethroat, redstart, martin, 
swallow, and wrjaieck. The cause of this is suggested to be 
shooting and netting on the Continent, but considering the 
great variation which occurs in the number of specimens 
of such birds in any district in different years, Ave may still 
perhaps hope that the decrease is only temporary and due 
to natural causes. Our Hon. Member, Mr. R. Lydekker, has 
lately brought out a book on " The Sheep and its Cousins " 
in connection with the work he has done at the Nat. Hist. 
Museum of collecting together many rare forms of the different 
breeds of sheep (as well as other domestic animals) which are 
now on view there and are described in his book. 



Ixiv. president's address. 

Botany. 

Probably all who have ever had to do with gardens are 
aware that different seeds vary very much in the time they 
take to germinate, from the mustard and cress which when 
children we used to put on damp flannel before the fire in 
the fond hope that it would spring up in a night, to such 
seeds as Canna, which, enclosed in a verj^ hard skin, take 
months. A paper on some experiments in germination of 
278 seeds was lately read before the Royal Dublin Society, 
hawthorn taking a year and a-half. I am not aware that 
the question of the dormant state in which some seeds are 
believed to remain for many years when deeply buried has 
ever been satisfactorily solved, but certainly when new 
ground is turned up, fresh plants do sometimes appear either 
from freshly imported or long dormant seeds. Another 
recent set of experiments was detailed to the Linnean Society 
on the pollination of hardy fruits. Strawberries can produce 
good fruit without the aid of insects — raspberries, currants, 
and gooseberries require them. In some fruits a flower 
cannot be fertilised with its own pollen but requires pollen 
from another blossom or even another tree. 19 only out 
of 65 apples were self fertilising ; in pears four out of 30 ; 
in plums 21 out of 41 ; in cherries 5 out of 12. Thus it 
might happen that in a garden containing only a few apple 
trees, all might be sterile from this cause. Of 3,000 insects 
visiting various fruit blossoms, 88 per cent, were hive bees, 
5^ per cent, humble and other wild bees, and 6^ per cent, 
flies and other insects, which last chiefly ate the pollen and 
did not carry it usefully to other flowers. In a botanical 
garden, so far as I have seen them, it is generally attempted 
to grow all sorts of flowers, whatever their natural habitat, 
and the difficulties incident to this are more or less overcome 
by greenhouses, heated to various temj)eratures, ponds, &c. 
But in Japan a botanical garden for the Alpine flora has been 
lately established in the mountains, thus providing the natural 
habitat of the plants in a way Avhich could not well be done 



PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. IxV. 

for mountain plants at a low altitude. The question 
of State forestry in this country has been debated, 
but as yet I believe very little has been done, 
though there are large suitable tracts of land available. 
Though it is an investment that takes a long time to shew 
profit, it is a valuable one for the future, and would give 
employment to many unskilled labourers in the present. 
The State can look forward a generation or two with much 
more satisfaction than private individuals, and many countries 
have found it most profitable. Improvements have lately 
been made in the varieties of Indian wheats and cottons 
Avhich tend to benefit the Indian farmer. In America some 
cacti are used as food for cattle, the chief objection being 
the quantity of saline matter contained in them. A curious 
experiment carried out at Woburn shews that the presence 
of grass underneath a tree interferes with its grou'th, even 
when the grass is not growing in the soil but in pans of earth 
resting on it. The heating of soil to a temperature con- 
siderably above that of boiling Avater appears greatly to 
favour the growth of plants in it, but the cause, which is 
ascribed in some way to bacteria, does not seem clear. 



Geology. 

The catalogue of earthquakes compiled by Prof. Mihie 
from various historical records from the beginning of our 
era to the end of last century is necessarily defective in the 
earlier portions, but would probably contain most of the 
more violent earthquakes in the then more civilised portions 
of the earth and would help in any attempt to ascertain any 
laws of periodicity which may govern them. Some of the 
oldest records are in Corea where they date back to 57 B.C. 
A very destructive earthquake occurred in Turkey on Aug. 
9 last, the epicentre lying somewhere to the N.W. of the Sea 
of Marmora. It affected an area of about 20,000 square 
miles and killed 3,000 persons. With regard to the luminous 



Ixvi. president's address. 

appearances which were observed in the Valparaiso earth- 
quake of Aug. 16, 1906, and to which I alluded in my address 
last year, the evidence, on being sifted, has proved somewhat 
contradictory, and as a storm was raging over part of Chile 
at the time, it is considered that there is no sufficient proof 
that the luminosity was connected with the earthquake in 
any way. A violent eruption took place at Katmai in the 
Aleutian Isles on June 6 last, when a terrific explosion is 
said to have taken place, followed by a steady stream of 
volcanic fragments and ash which are estimated to have 
covered 300 square miles of fertile country and fell in a thick 
layer on the decks of a vessel 70 miles away. The Address 
of the President of the Geological Section of the British 
Association dealt with the relation between the Cambrian 
faunas of Scotland and N. America, and is full of interest 
to geologists, one of the conclusions being the resemblance 
of the Lower Cambrian fauna of the N.W. Highlands to that 
of N. America, whereas it differs essentially from the Lower 
Cambrian fauna of the rest of Europe. From this and other 
facts the arrangement of land and water at that period is 
deduced, reference being made to our Hon. Member, Mr. 
Jukes-Browne, whose work in this branch of Geology is well 
known. From a boring near London were lately obtained at a 
depth of over 1,100 feet specimens of Upper old red Sandstone 
with characteristic fossils. Recent discoveries in Texas 
and New Mexico have demonstrated the existence in the 
Permian strata of reptiles and amphibians, which have 
also been found elsewhere of this very early date, thereby 
complicating the theories of descent in these groups and 
making us hesitate to express opinions until more facts have 
been brought to light. The development of the higher 
fossil plants seems equally unknown, and Angiosperms have 
lately been found as far down as the Lower Greensand. 
In Cambrian rocks in British Columbia, at an elevation of 
about 8,000 feet, there is a spot where the fossils are in a most 
wonderful state of preservation. They consist chiefly of 
orabs, marine worms, and even jelly fish, which latter actually 



PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. Ixvii, 

shew the details of the thread-like swimming muscles. In 
the worms one can see not only the external formation and 
markings, but the details of the interior intestine and the long 
proboscis, which are all wonderfully preserved. After such 
finds, one may look forward to finding even earlier forms of life 
and improving a little on our almost absolute ignorance of its 
first beginnings ; but these beautifully preserved low forms 
of life are, I believe, very uncommon. To go to a higher 
sphere, a fine skull of the horned reptile Triceratops has just 
been added to the Natural History Museum. The skull is 
about six feet long, but its brain has a length of only six 
inches. It comes from Upper Cretaceous beds in Wyoming, 
U.S.A. Remains of huge fossil Tortoises [Testudo rohusta), 
and what is believed to be a still larger species, have lately 
been found in Malta. 



Astronomy. 

The eclipse of April 17, 1912, came so near to our last 
Annual Meeting that though I was able to mention some of 
the circumstances and results comiected with it, there were 
naturally many others which had not yet been published. 
Though, as I said in my last address, the extent of the eclipse 
was not in this country sufficient to affect animals and plants 
in general, yet at Paris, where it was much more nearly total, 
it is stated that birds and certam plants behaved as they 
usually do at nightfall. Observations on the total echpse of 
Oct. 10 last in Brazil, were unfortunately prevented by heavy 
rain. Further observations have been made in Algeria, as 
well as on Mount Wilson, in California, on the supposed 
variability of the sun, which are not considered quite con- 
clusive, but tend to assign to it an uncertain period of 5 — 10 
days, with a variability of 5 to 10 per cent. To turn to the 
moon, which has hitherto been supposed to be unchangeable 
in its features, signs have been seen of the alteration in form 
and size of a small hill on its surface, but this appears to 



Ixviii. president's address. 

require confirmation. The diameter of Neptune, the furthest 
of our planets from the sun, has been measured and found to be 
about 50,000 kilometres. The period of rotation of Uranus 
has also been found to be 10 hours 45 min. The number of 
known minor planets has now risen to 732. Several meteorites 
of interest have been recorded. A wedge-shaped fragment of 
a meteorite, weighing about 1,900 grams, was found in 
Kansas, U.S.A. ; on Dec. 18 a bright meteor was seen by 
several observers at Manchester and in Yorkshire. It is 
described as having a diameter half the size of the moon, and 
leaving a bluish trail. After travelling some distance it 
divided into two portions, of which one seemed to fall towards 
the earth and the other to continue its course. A large 
detonating meteor passed over Patagonia on Feb. 10, and 
was seen and heard over a considerable area. But the most 
interesting occurrence was a shower of meteoric stones near 
Holbrook, Arizona, on July 19 last. A large meteor was 
seen to pass over Holbrook with a loud noise which lasted for 
about half a minute, and numerous stones were seen to 
fall near Aztec, raising puffs of dust in the sandy desert, 
more than 14,000 being found, weighing from one gram 
to 141b., over an area of three miles by half a mile. It 
seems probable that the new comet 1912b niay be identical 
with the Tuttle comet, Avhich, approaching Jupiter too 
closely, has had its course shortened by 86 days. The spectra 
of Nova Geminorum and Nova Persei have been successfully 
obtained and carefully studied, and appear to present no 
striking differences from each other or from those of Novae 
in general. Hydrogen is the chief feature, with calcium, 
iron, and other constituents. A recent theory with regard 
to temporary stars, or one class of Novae, is that the star has 
somewhat cooled down, and a thin crust has formed over its 
surface. A break occurs in the crust, and the liquid fiery 
contents flow out in a sort of gigantic volcano. This produces 
the appearance of a temporary star, and may occur at 
intervals. The Pole star has been believed to be variable, 
and from measures secured on 17 nights a variation of 0'078 



president's address. Ixix. 

magnitude is shewn. This is rather less than that obtained 
by other methods. The speeds of stars through space vary 
from about 12 to 34 kilometres per second,so far as determined, 
our sun having a velocity of 19 J kilometres. Their tempera- 
tures vary from 400,000° Centigrade for 7 Pegasi to 2,150° 
for a Tauri, the sun bemg 4,950°. But different observers 
have varied in their results, especially in the hotter stars. 
Stars like Sirius in their spectra are about 50 times as bright 
as the sun, orange stars about one-sixth as bright, red stars 
only one-fiftieth. But these data can only be obtained for 
stars the distances of which can be measured. There would 
appear to be in the Milky Way, and possibly elsewhere, masses 
of gas of such a dark nature as to hide the stars behind it, and 
in this way the existence of blank spaces is explained. Many 
very fine photographs of Nebulse, shewmg beautiful forms, 
have been taken with the large reflector at the Lick Observa- 
tory, and are contained in Bulletin 219 of their publications. 



Meteorology, 

Though the law of average can usually be relied upon to 
give much the same results when any fairly long series of 
years are taken into consideration, it is not often that a hot, 
dry summer like that of 1911 is followed immediately by what 
one may call an absence of summer like that of 1912, when 
cold and rain were almost perpetual, and though the tempera- 
ture of July is shewn by the thermometer to have been 
slightly above the average, which will certainly be a surprise 
to those who experienced it, it is well made up on the other 
side by the cold months of June, August, and September. 
August was the coolest August ever recorded and the wettest 
month of the year, and wetter than any August in the past 57 
years, except in 1878. I am speaking so far of the Greenwich 
records, but they are applicable to most other places. The 
yearly rainfall was greatly in excess of the average in Dorset 
and elsewhere, except in the West of Scotland. To counter- 



Ixx. president's address. 

balance this to some extent, the past winter has been remark- 
ably mild, but has shewn a considerable excess of rainfall 
with deficiency of sunshine. In the British Isles generally, 
the rainfall amounted to 14 per cent, above the average. A 
very exceptional fall occurred at Norwich on Aug. 26-27, of 
6"32in. in the 12 hours from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Aug. 26, and 
lin. in the following 12 hours. This amount has very rarely 
been surpassed in the British Isles, though in Assam we 
have records going up to 40" Sin. in 24 hours, and in 
Jamaica more than 30 inches. From measurements 
which have been carried on for 14 years on the amount 
of water passing over a weir on the river Derwent, 
it has been found that the river absorbs on an 
average almost exactly three-quarters of the rain fallmg 
upon the area drained by it, the rest being carried off 
by evaporation, plants, &c. It has been suggested that the 
cold summer of 1912 was due to the abnormal ice-drift in the 
Atlantic, to which the sad fate of the " Titanic " called public 
attention. This has also caused investigation of the laws 
affecting icebergs in general, with some interesting results, 
but I think that some of them require more testing and 
working out before they can be accepted as reliable. It 
would appear from certain observations that the temperature 
of the sea increased on approaching an iceberg, the explanation 
being that the water which was chilled by the iceberg sank 
through becommg denser, and a surface current flowed in 
from all sides to replace it. This surface water would be 
warmed by the sun and slightly higher in temperature than 
the general body of water. But there are complications 
arising from the lightness of the fresh water melted from the 
iceberg which make satisfactory conclusions difficult. A 
more practical solution in regard to the dangers from icebergs 
is the agreement between the Board of Trade and the principal 
Atlantic Lines to join in providing an ice observing vessel 
fitted with wireless apparatus for keeping in touch with 
shipping. Scientific observations Avill also be made by 
trained observers on board. 



president's address. Ixxi. 

Two Commissions appointed by the International Meteoro- 
logical Committee met in London last September to deal 
with questions concerning International Weather Telegraphy, 
storm warnings, and other matters. They recommended, 
amongst other things, that all ships equipped with wireless 
apparatus should transmit observations to certain centres at 
Greenwich noon, and should receive in return forecasts and 
warnmgs from those centres. At the British Association, 
one of the most interesting points dealt with was the velocities 
of wind at different heights, a considerable increase taking 
place in the higher positions. The actual minimum rate of 
wind occurs in September, the rate then rises rapidly to 
December, and falls rapidly between March and June. It 
seems rather inconsistent with these statements (which, 
however, only apply, I believe, to the United Kmgdom) to 
state that a cyclone of unparalleled violence m Canada 
passed over the city of Regina on July 4, and, though lasting 
only three minutes and having a width of 300 feet, did 
immense damage, overthrowing numerous buildings in its 
course. Such storms have sometimes occurred in Dorset, 
though not of such magnitude, and when they come usually 
overthrow any trees in their course. There are references 
to them in our volumes of Proceedings, the one I best 
remember having taken place at Ranston, where a path was 
literally cut through a wood, all the trees in it lying on top of 
each other. On Mar. 23 last a very destructive tornado did 
great damage in Nebraska and some of the central parts of 
the United States, and was followed by the worst floods ever 
experienced in the Ohio and Mississipi valleys, occasioning 
great loss of life and property. In a report on extensive 
observations of trees struck by lightning in the United States, 
the usual belief that some lands of trees are more likely to be 
struck than others is not supported, the conclusion being 
that the height and isolated position of trees render them 
more Hable, independently of then- species. In Europe, oak 
and poplar are considered more liable, and bhch and beech 
less. 



Ixxii. president's address. 

Electricity. 

In Electricity, wireless telegraphy and its developments 
still continue to hold the foremost place of interest, and 
though the distances traversed since I last addressed you 
have not strikingly increased, being about a quarter of the 
earth's circumference, or 6,000 miles, improvements continue 
to be made, especially in wireless telephony, which advances 
slowly. The International Radio-telegraphic Conference, 
which met in London last June, occupied itself chiefly with 
regulations for wireless telegraphy on ships, and suggested 
various rules, amongst others that all ships should be obliged 
to be fitted with suitable apparatus for this purpose. Perhaps 
the latest special use of this means of communication is 
between aeroplanes and earth stations, the distances over 
which it can be worked reaching at present to 50 or 60 miles. 
Another application of Electricity on a large scale is carried 
out chiefly in Norway to produce nitrogenous products, 
which are in great demand for agricultural purposes, to supply 
the deficiency experienced in the natural nitre, which has 
hitherto been sent from Chile in great quantities, but is now 
becoming used up. Such plant placed near our coalfields 
might be also desirable for producing nitre for military 
purposes, should other supplies fail. At Niagara there is a 
gigantic electric installation for chemical purposes, and 
England would doubtless follow suit were there more natural 
mechanical power available. A new use for Electricity is a 
method of measuring wind velocity by the aid of a small bare 
wire Wheatstone bridge, having arms of manganin and 
platinum. The cooling effect of a current of air lowers the 
resistance of the platinum, but does not affect the manganin, 
and an increased current is therefore required to effect a 
balance, the measure of which shews the wind velocity. 

Chemistry. 

Recent discoveries in Chemistry, chiefly in connection 
with radium and radio-active substances, have so upset the 



president's address. Ixxiii. 

established ideas and beliefs in this branch of science that 
even the foundations on which it rests have been disturbed, 
and we cannot now talk of atoms as if they were certainly 
indivisible and constant for each elementary substance, as 
we have numerous cases of what would have been looked 
upon as an element turning gradually into some other 
substance. The old alchy mists have been ridiculed for a 
similar belief, but the day may not be far distant when some 
commoner substance may be transmuted into gold, as 
uranium is believed to be finally changed mto lead, though 
further evidence is still wanting. Lately both neon and 
helium have appeared in vacuum tubes under the influence 
of X-rays in such a manner as to suggest that they have 
been transmuted into these elements from other substances, 
but the cause of their appearance does not yet seem quite clear. 
Thirty-four radio-active substances are now known, 14 of 
which have been discovered as such in the last seven years. 
From calculations which have been made in regard to the 
heating power of the radium found in rocks, it would appear 
that the earth ought to be becoming gradually hotter, instead 
of cooling down, as all geological evidence leads us to believe. 
This shews either that there are other as yet undiscovered 
forces at work acting in the other direction, or that there is 
some flaw in our facts or deductions. There is some reason 
to believe that radium exists in the chromosphere of the sun, 
but the spectroscopic indications are somewhat uncertain. 
On plants radio-active water causes a prompt germination 
and rapid development up to a certain strength, but beyond 
this it is harmful. Leaving for the present this very fertile 
subject of radium, I come to an investigation which will 
interest more the Antiquarian Members of our Club, namely, 
the pigments used by the ancients in illuminated MSS. from 
the 7th to the 15th Century. These include vermilion, red 
lead, orpiment, ultramarine, azurite, malachite, verdigris, 
lakes, a Tyrian purple, and an undetermined copper green. 
These results are being published in detail by the Society of 
Antiquaries, and may be sometimes useful in helping to fix 



Ixxiv. president's address. 

the dates of MSS. In connection with colours it may be of 
interest to mention that a coloured photograph of the moon 
shews a general surface of olive green with spots which have 
orange, purple, and blue tones. Attempts have been and 
are being made to produce a light which shall exactly resemble 
daylight, and enable certain trades which require daylight 
to be carried on at other times ; but no perfect success has 
yet been obtained, though much has been done. The pro- 
duction of india rubber sjoithetically has been accomplished, 
at a price to compete with natural rubber, to which it will be 
a serious rival. Another valuable discovery is that of 
" non-flaming " celluloid, which possesses all the other 
properties of celluloid, but bums in a safe manner and is free 
from the dangers hitherto associated with that substance. 



Engineering. 

The Engineering subject which is still most occupying 
public attention is probably aviation, both in regard to 
aeroplanes and airships, though I do not think that any 
really important improvements have taken place in either 
during the past 12 months. But the untried and possibly 
very important effects which these may have in case of war 
have given rise to a great deal of discussion and speculation. 
In the wars that have taken place since their introduction, 
the opposing forces have not been by any means in the front 
rank in aviation, and this fact may account for the com- 
paratively small part which it has played in the conflicts — 
still, aeroplanes have been used with sufficient effect to shew 
that they are likely to be important munitions of war in the 
future, both for prospecting and offensive purposes. At the 
International Aero Exhibition early this year, many different 
types were shewn. The lifting power of aeroplanes has 
reached a high pitch, but the lateral stability leaves much 
still to be desired, and is more or less dependent on the skill 
of the pilot. Until this has been overcome, either by the 



president's address. Ixxv. 

use of separate propellers for vertical and horizontal motion, 
or by some other device, they can scarcely cease to be a very 
risky mode of progression. The great disaster which took 
place in the sinking, through collision with an iceberg, of 
the " Titanic," a monster ship which was considered to be 
absolutely safe on account of its water-tight compartments 
and other precautionary arrangements, and the great loss of 
life which followed, has caused much investigation into the 
safety of ships at sea, and various more effective regulations as 
to lifeboats to be carried, the supply for the Titanic having been 
most insufficient, and the difficulties of launching them from 
so great a height as the ship's side being serious. The further 
subdivision of the watertight compartments for passenger 
ships is also desirable, so that if two or three are injured the 
ship may still float. This appears to have been made a 
special feature of in the " Aquitania," an immense ship 
just launched in the Clyde, in which there are stated 
to be 41 watertight compartments in the double bottom 
and 84 above. A pumping pontoon for the Manchester 
Ship Canal has been constructed of ferro-concrete, and is the 
first vessel of this material in this country. At the British 
Association a paper was read describing experiments on the 
suction caused by passing vessels, which at distances of less 
than 100 feet was found to be considerable. Aluminium has 
presented difficulties in working, especially in regard to being 
soldered, which cannot, I believe, at present be done success- 
fully ; but it can be satisfactorily welded, though its alloys 
are not so amenable to this process. I have not yet seen or 
heard a film-parlant or speaking kinematograph, but the 
difficulties connected with these are said to have been to a 
great extent overcome, and synchronisation produced to 
satisfy the spectator's eye and ear. One of the great 
problems that will have to be faced in the future is a 
substitute for coal and petroleum, both of which will in time 
be exhausted. The most promising results appear to have 
come from the heat of the sun, which in warmer countries has 
an immense power stored up in it, and has already been used 



Ixxvi. president's address. 

with success on a small scale. In this country I fear we should 
be badly off in a year like 1912. The last discovery of 
petroleum appears to be in New Guinea, where an extensive 
bed of oilbearing sandstones was found by, I believe, an 
Australian Expedition to that island. 



Geography. 

Last year I had to record the successful journey to the 
South Pole of Captain Amundsen ; this year we can claim 
the same honour for an Englishman, Captain Scott, but 
with results to himself and his brave comrades which we all 
deplore. From his journal we learn all that they did and 
suffered under a series of difficulties and misfortunes which 
would seem unusual even in those inhospitable regions, in 
which, as in the Arctic zone, so many have lost their lives 
without having had the satisfaction of reaching their goal. 
Amongst the results of this unfortunate expedition are 
additions to our geological knowledge of the neighbourhood 
of the Pole, from whence the party brought back specimens 
of the rocks, confirming the existence of coal, and exhibiting 
fossils of Cambrian and other early formations. In the 
results of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition there 
have now been found to be no less than 18 new genera and 
263 new species of marine animals collected between the 
surface and a depth of 2,000 fathoms, the novelties occurring 
especially at the greater depths. 



Anthropology and Archeology. 

At the British Association Meeting the President's Address 
in this section consisted of a somewhat speculative discourse 
on the evolution of man, who, he considered, could be traced 



president's address. Ixxvii. 

back to an animal something like the little ghostlike tarsier 
of Borneo and the adjacent islands. The tarsier is a queer 
little jumping creature about the size of a small rat, with a 
long tail with a brush on the end, long hind legs, suckers on 
the tips of its toes, and enormous round e3^es. Coming to 
more recent and undoubted ancestors, a description was given 
of a fragment of a human jaw found in Kent's Cavern, 
Torquay, in 1867, but previously undescribed. This was 
considered to belong to the Neanderthal type, and unless this 
be so, I believe no Neanderthal remains have been discovered 
in this country, the ancient skeletons which have been found 
belonging to a type more like that of the present day, though 
said to be contemporaneous with or immediately succeeding 
the Neanderthal race. The great antiquity of the Ipswich 
skeleton, alluded to in my last Address, which from its 
position was looked upon as pre-glacial, seems to be only 
partially accepted, though I do not know that anything has 
been definitely proved to counteract the positive evidence of 
the finders. Numerous flints have been found in the sub- 
Crag detritus bed, to which their finders ascribe a human 
origin, but about which, as about other Eoliths, there exists a 
difference of opinion, and their evidence, unless supported in 
other ways, could hardly be relied on for the existence of man 
at that period. A very important recent discovery is that of 
a fragment of a skull, comprising the greater part of the brain 
case and one imperfect mandibular ramus, which was found 
near Piltdown Common, Fletching, Sussex, in gravel 80 feet 
above the present level of the river Ouse. Teeth of elephant, 
mastodon, and hippopotamus, and bones of deer, beaver, and 
horse were found near to the human remams, and of the same 
age. The very thick skull closely resembles that of a young 
Chimpanzee, with teeth of the human pattern, and is very 
ancient, though the exact date is a matter of discussion. 
The forehead is much steeper than ui the Neanderthal type 
with only a feeble brow-ridge. These appear to be the 
earliest human remains yet discovered m England. Another 
skeleton, probably of late Palaeolithic or early Neolithic date, 



Ixxviii. president's address. 

was found near Rochester, and on the same level but at some 
distance from the burial were hearths with charred wood, 
bones, and flints. Interesting excavations have also been 
made in Jersey. Investigations into the study of early man 
in Argentine territory tend to upset the claims of extreme 
antiquity of man in that region and to shew only the former 
presence of the comparatively modern Indian race, and 
nothing seems yet to have been proved as to the 
existence of very early man in any part of South America. 
This applies also to the recent discovery of supposed ancient 
remains at Cuzco, Peru. Two bones of a prehistoric horse 
have been found at Bishop's Stortford, similar to the discovery 
made there some j^ears ago. Paintings, consisting of ten 
red bands about a foot long and one or two inches broad, 
arranged in a fan-like pattern, and covered by a thin coating 
of stalagmite, were found in Bacon's Hole, Gower, and 
supposed to be prehistoric ; but further evidence throws 
great doubt on this assumption. There are many of these 
caves along this coast, which I used to know well as a boy, 
and though I never observed any paintings, the stalagmite 
was in great abundance and apparently still forming, to 
judge by the dripping state of the cave, so that any paintings, 
&c., might soon get covered with it. For the first time, clay 
figures of Palaeolithic date have been met with, three having 
been found in a cave in Montesquieu-Aventes, France. Two 
of them, 26in. and 30in. long, represent a bull and cow bison, 
and had been apparently attached to the wall of the cave, 
the third was more roughly modelled. Many footprints of 
Palaeolithic men and bears were found, and the same cave 
also contained mural paintings of animals. Near Prerau, in 
Moravia, has also been found the best carved Palaeolithic 
example known of an ivory statuette of a mammoth, about 
4|in. long. Mr. R. Lydekker has described, from an ancient 
Assyrian sculpture, an antelope of African type, not now 
known either in Assyria or to science, and Egj^ptian 
sculptures of the 6th dynasty have been found of the Dorcas 
Gazelle, the white oryx, and the Nubian ibex, tied up by 



president's address. Ixxix. 

ropes round their necks, suggesting that they were kept as 
domestic animals a t that period . Many interesting discoveries 
of a later age have been made in a Hittite excavation at 
Sakje-Geuzi, at Carchemish, in Malta, in Egypt, and else- 
where. In Egypt the earliest type of mummy has been 
found in 2nd or 3rd dynasty tombs at Sakkara. What 
appears to be a very valuable work on the pottery and history 
of the Bronze Age has lately been published, which will have 
a special interest for us from the fact that the author, Hon. 
John Abercrombie, spent a considerable time in examining 
the fine collection of prehistoric pottery in our Dorset Museum. 
He dates the Bronze Age in this country from about 2,000 to 
200 B.C. It has been lately discovered that three large lifts 
were in operation in the Imperial Palace on the Palatine Hill 
in Ancient Rome, and that a system of hot and cold water 
supply, closely resembling our modern arrangements, existed 
in Pompeii. To turn to present times, a tribe of white 
Eskimos is reported to be living in the neighbourhood of 
Victoria Island, who are supposed to be descendants of an 
ancient Norwegian Colony. An account of white Eskimos 
was given by De Poincy in 1658, which may refer to the 
same people. The publication, " Man," for last March, 
contains an article describing certain obsolete English utensils, 
and advising the preservation of such things in Museums, as 
they will before long be unobtainable. There are a good 
many specimens in our Dorset Museum of things that have 
recently gone out of use, and they might be added to by our 
Members. In this connection I may mention one small 
article which I had never myself heard of except in the song, 
" My lodging is on the cold ground," namely, a " rush ring," 
nor did I know exactly to what it referred. But I have 
lately acquired, and have now brought for exhibition, a deed 
of 1494 with five seals, each of which was apparently made 
by taking a small lump of beeswax, perhaps hardened with a 
little resin and coloured red, in a leaf, and squeezing it into 
the desired round, flat shape. After this a small ring, made 
by twisting a rush, was pressed down on the top, and the seal 



Ixxx. president's address. 

was impressed inside it. In this case portions of the leaves 
are still adhering to the backs of the seals, and three of the 
" rush rings " are in situ, the other two having come off. I 
feel that this must be the " rush ring " of the song, "I'll 
marry thee with a rush ring " ; it is so appropriate in 
size and otherwise, and looks as if it might have been made 
round the finger ; but perhaps some of our Members more 
learned in these matters can enlighten me. 



General. 

The Royal Society celebrated last July its 250th 
anniversary, a great number of foreign delegates being 
present from all parts of the world. In this enlightened age 
we may sometimes be tempted to undervalue and even to 
smile at some of the knowledge which passed for science 250 
years ago ; but we must remember that to start anything 
that ultimately proves worth having is a much more difficult 
thing than merely to elaborate something already in existence 
— the man who draws an original beautiful pattern out of his 
head shews much greater talent than he who copies it with a 
few improvements. Even in our own time scientific ideas 
have vmdergone great changes by such discoveries as that of 
radium, and there is no knowing how much the next genera- 
tion of scientists may scorn the science of 1913, through fresh 
wonderful discoveries. In one way the early members of the 
Royal Society differed much from more recent ones — there was 
comparatively little specialism, but each took a general 
interest and probably knew a good deal ubout other things 
besides his own special hobby. Now specialists seem 
necessary if any new discoveries are to be made, for the mass 
of information and literature in all branches is so enormous 
that no man could probably master it all, and could do but 
little unless he confined himself to that branch. But it is a 
misfortune that it must be so, for you cannot draw a 



president's address. Ixxxi. 

hard and fast line between different branches of science, and 
each must often suffer if the others are ignored. This point 
was brought up at the British Association Meeting at Dundee, 
but I do not see any remedy. On June 26th last, at Cardiff, 
the King laid the foundation stone of the National Museum 
for Wales, which is intended primarily, if not altogether, to 
illustrate Welsh history and Welsh natural history. A new 
and very useful institution in the British Museum of Natural 
History is that of a guide, who makes two tours of the Museum 
daily, explaining the various exhibits. There is also one at 
the British Museum. A Scottish Zoological Garden has been 
established at Edinburgh by the Zoological Society of 
Scotland, and a good site secured ; and in the London 
Zoological Gardens terraces with rockwork are being provided 
for some of the larger animals, which Avill be more of an 
approach to their natural state and shew them better in 
every way. Sanctuaries for birds, beasts, and flowers have 
been reserved at Blakeney Point, in Norfolk, a space of 
about 1,000 acres, also Marsh Island, Louisiana, containing 
about 75,000 acres, hitherto a great resort of birds, and also 
of gunners, who slaughtered vast numbers for the markets. 
In Switzerland attempts are being made to prevent the 
destruction of beautiful scenery by the setting up of huge 
advertisements and other things, which take away from its 
attractiveness. In the earlier days of tobacco, its use was 
considered most healthy, and even young boys were enjoined 
to smoke for the benefit of their health. Now the opposite 
is the law of schools, and this would appear to be supported 
by an investigation lately made into the advantages enjoyed 
by smokers and non-smokers in various ways, the non- 
smokers having distinctly the best of it, both amongst 
athletes and scholars. An important meeting of the Inter- 
national Time Conference was held lately in Paris, and 
decided that Greenwich time should be used universally, that 
signals should be sent out at exact hours from nine stations 
in different parts of the world, an agreed wave length to be 
used in the transmission by wireless telegraphy. A medal 



IxXXli. PRESmtENT^S ADDRESS. 

has been offered by the Mexican Astronomical Society to any 
Astronomer who discovers a comet, and I end my Address 
with congratulations to the recipient of the Wollaston Medal 
for this year, which has been awarded by the Geological 
Society to our Honorary Member the learned and veteran 
Geologist^ Rev. Osmond Fisher.. 




^Ciintio^'(5otljic ;^rt in Mcsscr. 



By H. COLLEY MARCH, M.D., F.S.A. 

{Read IQth December, 1912.) 




j^s^^. 



3TIW0 of the stones that were found in Whitcombe 
Church last winter have an incised 
decoration that occasioned, in this room, 
an interesting conflict of opinion. One 
expert declared that the design Avas 
Saxon, that is pre-Norman, and another 
said that it was undoubtedly Celtic, and 
certainly post-Norman. 
To give the matter a full discussion is 
desirable, if not now, on some other occasion when time 
might permit. But assuredly we should at once endeavour 
to ascertain the type of this embellishment, to infer the 
nationality of the artist, and then perhaps, of his work, to 
determine the date. 

What are the characteristics of Celtic Ornament ? The 
presence of the trumpet-pattern ; of the divergent spiral, 
whether single, double, or triple, which was originally 
developed in metal- work ; of the regular intersections of 
stepped designs derived from textile fabrics ; and of a 
multitude of intreeci, skeuomorphic, phyllomorphic, and 
zoomorphic. Such interlacements of animal forms, all biting 



2 SCANDO-GOTHIC ART IN WESSEX. 

themselves or each other, are, however, not truly Celtic, as I 
have elsewhere shown.* They originated in Egypt, where they 
had a religious significance, and came, through Byzantium, 
Italy, and Gaul, to Ireland and Britain, losing by degrees 
their symbolic meaning, and retaining at last only an 
ornamental value. But, for us, the most important feature 
of this type of art is its geometrical basis, the fact that all its 
details are symmetrically arranged. 

In this regard, reference may be made to the Irish 
Illuminated Manuscripts, the Book of Durrow and the Book 
of Kells, which are assigned by Haddon and Stubbs "f and by 
Dr. Reeves to the early part of the IX. century. But it 
should be noted that the pigments used in Irish and in 
Byzantine manuscripts are precisely the same ; that in the 
Book of Kells may be seen Byzantine arcading ; that the 
phoenix has become a peacock, and represents the beatified 
soul ; and yet that the interlaced animal forms resemble 
designs from the North of Europe. 

True Scando-Gothic art, on the other hand, is altogether 
destitute of sj^mmetry, for the simple reason that it is every- 
where based on national legend. Always, even tln-ough later 
flamboyant interlacements, one can read the story — the 
struggle of gods and heroes against the foes of earth and of 
heaven, against the causes of disaster, destruction, and death, 
against Midgarthorm, the world serpent, and Fenris the 
raging wolf. 

The Danish Monk could not forget them ; Norwegian 
churches, down to the close of the XIII. century, on porch 
and panel, still told of Fafni and Sigurd ; and after such 
decoration had become little else than an unsymmetrical 
intreccio, the point of a sword covild still be seen piercing the 
body of a serpent ; while to-day, on many a Scandinavian 
sanctuary, the dragon's head towers far above the cross. 



* Proceedings of this Club, Vol. XXI. 
f Ecclesiastical Documents, Vol. I., p. 190. 



m 




%s. 





SCANDO-GOTHIC ART IN WESSEX. 3 

The most interesting example of this pagan-Christian 
overlap is to be seen, in the Stockholm Museum, on a circular 
font of granite. It belonged to the old church at Ottrava, 
West Gotland, Sweden, and it dates from the close of the 
X. century.* Its surface is divided into eight fields, and all 
but one are carved with Christian subjects, like the crucifixion, 
while the other represents the god Thor (fig. A). Three 
stigmata mark his brow, the scars of three wounds inflicted 
by the flint axe of the Giant Hrungni whom Thor slew. In 
his left hand, as Ruler of the Waves, the god holds his 
steering-oar, and with his right hand, guarded by his impene- 
trable gauntlet, he raises, as the Friend of Man, his 
omnipotent Hammer over the head of a dragon, Midgarthorm ; 
Avhile above are seen, in full flight, Fenris-wolf and Garm 
the Hell-hound. 

It may well be that the inherited faith of Scando-Gothic 
converts was upheld for a time by the Vulgate translation 
of the Hebrew Bible,")" by the Gothic version of Ulfilas,J or by 
that in Anglo-Saxon of ^lfric,§ where they would have read 
" that the Serpent, more subtil than any beast || beguiled our 
" first mother and was cursed by a deadly mutual antipathy ; 
''' She shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt entrap her 
" heel."^ And who, more clearly than an artist from Sweden, 



* Ottrava is in the diocese of Skara, where was a great pagan temple, 
and a Mootplace of the Goths. 

f Anno 405. J Made from a Greek original in the 4th century. 
§ Circa 990. || Gen. iii., 1, 13, 14, 15. 

^ Inimicitias ponam inter te et mulierem et semen tiium 
Ic sette feondraedene betpeon J^e & jjam pife & J^inum ofspringe 
et semen illius : Ipsa conieret caput tiium 
& hire ofspringe : Heo tobryt Jiin lieafod 
et tu insididberis calcaneo ejus. — Vulgate. 
& Jiu syryst ongean hyre ho. — .^Ifric's version. 
Here, the words insidiaberis and syryst mean trap or ensnare : and 
in the Islandic Bible, ed. 1747, the words are Pu skallt bita hann 
i heelenn — " thou shalt hite him in the heel," and this indeed, the 
dragon on the Avebury font seems to be doing (fig. B). 



4 SCANDO-GOTHIC ART IN WESSEX. 

could see " an Angel come down from heaven, with a great 
" chain in his hand, and lay hold on the dragon, that old 
" Serpent, and bind him." * 

And what could better suit the Danish teniioerament than 
to learn that " Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf ; in the morning 
" he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the 
" spoil." t 

The men whom we call Saxons, or Anglo-Saxons, who 
swarmed over into this country in the fifth century, and were 
largely converted to Christianity in the sixth, included Jutes 
and Friesians as well as Angles. A warlike race they were, 
but not artistic. Their coinage was rude in the extreme. { 
Their architecture was barbarous, and their sacred edifices 
were made of wood and covered with reeds and straw. 
The cathedral church of York, that was constructed by 
Edwin of Northumbria, fell to pieces in 40 years, and was 
then rebuilt in stone by St. Wilfred. § And though they 
continued to grow in skill, and were greatly helped and 
instructed by foreign monks, to the very last, until the 
Norman Conquest, their sculpture and their decorative 
carvings, destitute of any trace of Folk-lore, not onh' lacked 
the element of beauty, but were often truly grotesque. 

The Normans, however, were of Scandinavian descent, 
and promptly on their arrival, as William of Malmesburj^ 
tells us, " you might see churches rise in every village, and 
" monasteries in the towns and cities, built after a style 
" unknown before." || But even the Normans placed on their 
earliest capitals the Hammer of Thor. ^ 



* Rev. XX., 1-2. t Gen. xlix., 27. 

J Akerman. 

§ Anno 670 ; i^ide Lingard, p. 141. 

II Videas iibique in v'illis ecclesias, in vicis et urbibus monasteria novo 
Eedificandi genere consurgere. III. 246. 

^ The Tau-cross (T), the jiagan -Christian sign of consecration, as in 
the early crypt at Canterbury, at St. Nicholas, Caen, &c. 



SCANDO-GOTHIC ART IN WESSEX. 5 

Thorpe, the last translator of what are called the Anglo- 
Saxon poems of Beowulf, * regards the Scop or Gleeman's 
Tale as an heroic Saga composed in the south-west of Sweden, 
and as probably brought to this country during the sway and 
for the delectation of the Danish dynasty. 

What interest, he asks, could an Anglo-Saxon feel in any 
valorous deeds of the Northmen, his deadly foes ; or in the 
encounter of a Scando-Goth with a fire-drake or a dragon ? 
And the answer he gives is " None whatever." f 

Moreover, Beowulf, though he wrote in the Anglo-Saxon 
tongue and introduced allusions to Christian belief, was 
himself of Gothic parentage, and lost no opportunity of 
praising Hermanric, the illustrious Gothic ruler. { 

The Swedes in earlier days inhabited only the central part 
of Modern Sweden. It was the Malar Lake that separated 
them from the Goths, who, under the designation of Hreth- 
goths, dwelt along the shores of the Baltic. Reithgotarland 
was the name for Denmark, and Beowulf called the Danes 
Hrethmen, while the English included in the term " Danes " 
both Swedes and Norwegians. 

When did these pagan Danes begin gravely to harass the 
Christian inhabitants of Wessex ? When did it first become 
possible for individual Scandinavians, peaceful and con- 
verted, to enter English monasteries ? 

It is sad to learn that our own Dorchester is not once 
mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. We read there, 
undoubtedly, that in the year 635 Cynegils was baptised by 
Birinus, the bishop at Dorchester ; § that, in the following 
year Cuichelm was baptised at the same place ; and that in 
the year 639 Cuthred also was baptised " on Dorceceastre." 



* Published 1855. 
f Thorpe, Preface, p. ix. 
I Ramsay ; Gothic Handbook, pp. 14-16. 
§ Cynegils King wearf^ gefullad fram Berino paem bisceopo on 
Dorcaceastre. 



6 SCANDO-GOTHIC ART IN WESSEX. 

And it is true that the eminent antiquary Kemble, in Appendix 
C to his work on The Saxons of England, * assigns the 
Doreeceastre, of the three years just mentioned, to Dorset, 
although he remarks of the Doreeceastre in Oxfordshire that 
" it was for some time a bishop's see for Wessex." 

Any doubt as to Kemble's error is dissipated by a reference 
to Beda, who records that " the two Kings (Oswald of 
Northv;mbria and Cynegils the subregulus, after his con- 
version) gave to the Bishop Berinus (who had come to this 
country from Pope Honorius in the year 634) the city called 
Dorcic, there to settle his episcopal see." "f Stevenson, the 
editor of the Latin translation of Beda for the " English 
Historical Society," as well as of the English translation of 
" The Church Historians," together with Bishop Stubbs, both 
agree that this Dorchester was in Oxfordshire. 

Beortric succeeded to the Kingdom of the West Saxons in 
784. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle relates that, in the follow- 
ing year, " Pope Adrian [the First], in order to renew, in 
" England, the Faith and the Peace, sent messengers from 
" Rome, AA'ho were received with honour. And in 787 there 
" came in three ships for the first time [to Wessex] Danish 
" men. And the Reeve rode to meet them, thinking to drive 
" them to the King's Vill, but they slew him." 

With this account, which names no places, that by Florence 
of Worcester agrees ; but Ethelward { tells us that " the 
" Northmen landed on Portland, and that Beaduheard the 
" King's Reeve happened to be staying in Dorchester. 
" Apprised of the invasion he rode hastily to the port, thinking 
" the Danes to be traders rather than pirates, and ordered 
" that they should be forcibly conducted to the King's Vill. 



* Vol. II., p. 553. 

f Da sealdom him & geafon Jjam B. (isceopo) began ^a 
cyningaseardung stowe & biscop set! on Doreeceastre [Beda 
III., 7]. 

J Proem to Book III. 



SCANDO-GOTHIC ART IN WESSEX. 7 

" But they fell upon him and his retinue and put them all 
" to death." * 

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle further relates that in 833 

" King Ecgbright fought against the crews of thirty-five ships at 
" Carrum [CharmouthJ and after great slaugliter the Danes held the 
" field." " In 835 tliey landed in Cornwall and joined the Welsh 
" [or British] forces ; but Ecgbright fought against them at Hen- 
" gestesdun [Kingston Down] and put them all to flight." f "In 
" 836 Ecgbright died, and his son ^thelwulf succeeded to the kingdom 
" of the West Saxons. In the following year the Ealdorman Wulf heard 
" fought at Southampton against tlie crews of thirty-three ships, and 
" after great slaughter gained the day. And in the same year the 
" Ealdorman ^thelhelm, with the Dorset men, fought against a 
" Danish army at Portland, and for a good while had the better of it ; 
" but the Danes held the field, and slew the Ealdorman." { 

" In 840 King ^thelwvilf fought at Charmouth against the crews 
" of thirty-five ships, and was defeated." § 

" In 845 the Ealdorman Eanulf with the men of Somerset and Bishop 
" Ealhstan, and the Ealdorman Osric with the men of Dorset fought at 
" the mouth of the Parrot (in the Bristol Channel) against a Danish 
" Army, and defeated them." || 

" In 851 the Ealdorman Ceorl, with the men of Devon, defeated the 
" Danes at Wieganbeorli " [perhaps Wembury on the coast.] 

It should be noted that " in the same year came three 
" hundred and fifty ships of Danes to the mouth of the 
" Thames." And this was part of the fleet of Rorik, a 
nephew of the Danish Harald Klak Avho, in 826, had received 
baptism. H 

We may suppose, then, that some of the Danes coming to 
this country were no longer pagans. And we may suppose, 



* The King's Vill or town at this time, 787, was probably Wareham, 
though .^thelstan's concession to Middleton is stated to have beeu 
given. Anno DCCCXLIII. [more likely 939] "in villa regali quae 
dicitur Dorcacastri." 

t See also Fl. Wig. % See also Fl. Wig. 
§ See also Fl. Wig. 1 1 See also Fl. Wig. 

TJ Lappenberg, II., 22. 



8 SCANDO-GOTHIC ART IN WESSEX. 

further, knowing as we do the passion of Christians to make 
converts, that all through these wars in Wessex many of 
those Northmen who surrendered as hostages, as well as 
those who were taken prisoners, would receive priestly 
attention, and would be glad enough, in some cases, to enter 
the safe service of a monastery. 

Asser tells us that " in the year 876 a pagan army under 
" Guthrum, Oskytel, and Anwynd, entered a castle called 
" Wareham, where there is a monastery of holy virgins, 
" between two rivers Fraun [Frome] and Trent in the Saxon 
" district Thornsaeta [doubtless Dornsaete, the people of 
" Dorset] placed in a most secure situation except that it 
" was exposed to danger on the western side, owing to the 
" nature of the ground." [Fl. Wig. calls the rivers Fraw 
and Terente.] 

With this army King Alfred made a solemn treaty that 
they should depart out of his Kingdom. And they gave 
hostages and swore an oath over Christian relics. * But at 
night these pagans sallied forth and slew all the King's 
horsemen, and went to Exaenceaster. And thereafter, as 
Lappenberg remarks, Exeter and Wareham became the chief 
centres of attraction for the Danes, f 

In the year 877 { a great storm drove the Danish fleet 
[perhaps on its way to Wareham] into Swanewic, or Swanage, 
and the crews landed. And King Alfred, endeavouring to 
attack them, rode after them as far as Exeter, where he 



* The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says " they swore on the holy ring," 
on ]jam halgan beage ; and Prof. Stevens is doubtless right in taking 
this to mean " the holy ring of Thor." (Thunor the Thunderer, p. 40.) 
Such a ring of silver, which must weigh not less than two ounces, 
lay on any altar that was dedicated to that god, and was used by the 
priest in administering an oath. That this ring, through which 
the attestor passed his hand, was really a torque or bracelet is 
shown in the Eyrbyggja Saga, where it is called motlauss, meetless, 
joinless. 

t Vol. II., 50. t A. S. Chron. 




o 




SCANDO-GOTHIC ART IN WESSEX. 9 

found they had made themselves secure in their fastness.* 
But in the following year, in Wessex, in Devon, a pitched 
battle was fought, for which King Alfred had made great 
preparation. And he defeated the Danes and took from 
them a standard which they called the Raven. And Asser 
tells us that they claim it to have been woven in one day by 
three daughters of Lodbrok ; and that when the Danes were 
to be victorious the ensign fluttered like a living thing, but 
hung motionless before defeat, f 

The Raven was Odin's Mark, the Holy Bird of Odin, who 
was called Hrafna god, the Lord of Ravens. Their croaking 
betokened disaster, and they fed on the slaughtered foe. 
We see the legend on the Avebury font (fig. B).. And it is not 
difficult to suppose that the place in Wilts once called 
Hraefnesbyrig, and now Ramsbury, owes its name to a 
conflict where the Danish flag once fle^\', and where a 
dragon's head can still be seen amidst the unsymmetrical 
Scando-Gothic intreccio that used to decorate a cross (fig. C). 
And within ten miles of Ramsbury are the remains of 
Wolf hall, called in Domesday Book, Ulfela, which is the 
Gothic diminutive of Wolf. 

And the baptism of Danes continued. In the same year 
when their standard was taken in Devon, in 878, King Alfred, 
with the men of Hants, Somerset, and Wilts who had 
assembled at the Stone of Ecgbright [Brixton (Deverill)], 
marched to Edington [near Westbury] and defeated the 



* hie on J^ain fastene waeron. 

f As.serii Annales — Scriptores XV., p. 167. 

ibique acceperunt spolia non minima, in quo etiam 
accepenmt illiid vexillum quod Reafun [Rsefn] nominant. Dicunt 
enim quod tres sorores Hinguari & Aubbae, filise videlicet Lodebrochi 
illud vexillum texuerunt & totum paraverunt illud uno meridiano 
tempore. Dicunt etiam quod in omni bello ubi prsecederet idem 
signum, si victoriam adepturi essent appareret in medio signi qua.si 
corvus vivus volitans ; .si vero vincendi in futuro fui.ssent, penderet 
directe, nihil movens. Et hoc ssepe probatum est. 



10 SCANDO-GOTHIC ART IN WESSEX. 

pagans under Guthrum, their King. And then, with thirty 
chosen men, Guthrum came to Alfred and was baptised. The 
holy chrism was poured upon him at Aller, near Athelney, 
in Somerset, and Alfred was his sponsor, when Guthrum 
received the name of ^thelstan. And the chrismal fillet 
was removed, eight days after, at Wedmore, Alfred's VilL* 
Subsequently a treaty was made between the two Kings, 
which determined the boundary between Wessex and East 
Anglia Avhich for fourteen years had been in the possession of 
the Danes ; whilst another enactment ensured a continuance 
of the spiritual dignitaries in that province under the 
suzerainty of Wessex. f 

But, with other Danes, other battles had to be fought — 
in 980 at Southampton, in 981 in Cornwall, in 982 in Portland, 
in 988 at Watchet, in 997 in Devon, in 1001 and 1003 at 
Exeter. 

And noAv, in spite of the fact that Norse converts sometimes 
assumed, on baptism, Anglo-Saxon names, is there any 
direct evidence that in the years we have spoken of, Danes 
were living in Wessex as citizens and as monks ? Yes ; a 
good deal. Professor Anderson J makes the luminous 
assertion that "when l^ur, or Thor, appears in compound 
" names in Anglo-Saxon deeds or charters which pretend to 
" be older than the Danish invasion of the IX. century, it is 
" a sure sign of forgery." From this, two inferences are 
inevitable ; first, that such forgeries were the work of Danish 
monks ; and second, that in Wessex all such names of persons, 
at whatever period they occiir, belong to Norsemen. But we 
may extend these inferences to other patronymics, such as 
those compounded of Rafn, raven ; and of Ketill, the Holy 
Cauldron used at sacrifices, and as sacred to the Scandinavians 
as the Chalice is to us. 



* his crism lysing vvaes set Wedmor : A. S. Chron. See also Asser. 
t Lappenberg II., 56, 58. 
X Norse Mythology, p. 459. 



SCANDO-GOTHIC ART IN WESSEX. 



11 



And we must include in this list of appellations, besides the 
names of well-known Visigoths, those that are to be found in 
the Landnamabok, ^^■hieh, with an account of the discovery 
and settlement of Iceland, contains a record of the families 
who lived there. * 

Armed \^ith these weapons we may now advance. There 
were ten bishoj)s of Ramsburj' — from 909 to 1045, when the 
last was consecrated, and he died in 1078. Of these we may 
say, with some shoA\' of reason, that four were Anglo-Saxon 
and six were Scando-Gothic. 

Ethelstan . . 909 A Saxon. 

Odo . . . . 927 Oddi and Oddr, common in Land- 

namabok. 

Aelric . . Contraction of Egill-rik, common in 

Landnamabok. 

Osulf . . 952 A Saxon. 

Elf Stan . . 974 Corruption of Eyulf and Eyolf (Wolf), 
Old Norse, common in Landnamabok, 

Wulfgar . . 981 A Saxon. 

Siric. .. 985 Contraction of Sigeric, Liber Vitae 

Eccl. Dunelrn. a monk. A subregulus, 
a Thane, in Wilts, 901. Kemble's 
Codex Diplomaticus. 
cf. Elfstan. Eyolf. Old Norse. 
A Saxon. 

Gothic, Hermanric, or Ermanaric, a 
Gothic King. Hermandr, common in 
Landnamabok. 

An important and convincing charter, not quite too late for 
our purpose, is one under the hand of Cnut King of England, 
Denmark, and Norway. He was born 994 and died at Shaftes- 
bury 1035. He was baptised AAhen under 20 years of age, and 



Elfric 


. . 990 


Brihtwold 


. . 1005 


Herman 


. . 1045 



* The author of this work was Stiirla Thortharson, a judge in the 
Higher Court, who died in 1284. 



12 SCANDO-GOTHIC ART IN WESSEX. 

received the name of Lambert, and almost at once invaded 
this country, when perhaps he constructed, or renewed, our 
own Lambert's Castle. In 1024 he gave seven hides, or 700 
acres, of the cultivated land of Portesham, together with 
tenants' houses, to his servant and friend [ministro atque 
amici] Ore or Orcy, who lived (at Abbotsbury) two miles away, 
with his wife Thola. Ore was not a jrater religiosus but a 
Housecarl, a steward of Cnut's mansion, and his name is 
Norwegian, from the Old Norse Orkn, a grampus or seal, 
and his wife's name, Thola, is an abraded form of Thorleif, 
"a relic of Thor," and so is allied to Thora, the name of 
Lodbrok's wife, who was the heroine of a well-known 
dracontine legend. 

Of the 36 signatories of Cnut's charter, some, perhaps, had 
changed their Danish names on baptism, but many have 
distinctly Scando-Gothic patronymics, thus : 

Hacun, dux. Hacon was a King of Norway. 
Thorth, minister (or military servant), compare with 
Thortharsen, a Norse name. 

Thurstan ,, 
Thurgod ,, 

Thurcyl, hoga, minister. This is a contraction of Thurcytel. 
Hoga is " a hill " where, perhaps, Thurcyl 
lived. At a witenagemot held at 
Cheddar, in Somerset, anno 968, an 
Abbot called Thurcytel was present. 
Ulfcytel was a common name for monks. 
Kartoca, minister. Kar is frequent in Landnamabok 
Tovi ,, Tofa occurs ,, ,, 

Tovi hwita ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, 

Bovi ,, Bodvar occurs ,, ,, 

and may be compared with the name Bovey, local 
and personal, in Devon. 

Among the many manors that came into the possession of 
this Abbey were one in Ramesbere and one at Odstoke,in Wilts. 



SCANDO-GOTHIC ART IN WESSEX. 13 

The last Abbot of Middeltun was Agelricus [Egelricus, or 
Egeilricus]. The name Egill occurs frequently in Land- 
namabok, and Agila was a Visigothic King. 

In conclusion, we may look again at the drawings on the 
wall, in order fully to realise the links of a remarkable chain 
of Scando-Gothic art. We can begin with two fonts, one 
in Gotland (fig. A) and the other in Wessex (fig. B), each 
adorned with a dragon that resembles the other so closely 
that they must have been sculptured, if not by the same 
hand, then by a monk of the same nationality and almost 
of the same period. And each dragon is being assailed, one 
by a Christianised Thor with his Tau-cross and the other by 
a Christianised Sigurd with a pointed Crozier ; and a Raven 
is ready to devour the carrion. 

Then we come to the fragments of two crosses. On the 
one at Ramsbury, in Wilts, we see a serpent's head among 
the asymmetrical coils of its death-struggles (fig. C), and on 
that at Whitcombe in Dorset, amid similar throes, if we 
cannot see the head we can recognise one of the limbs of 
the dragon's writhing body (fig. D). 

And then at last we arrive at Milton Abbey, but only to 
witness a typical intreccio, in which the characteristic art 
remains, but the legend has vanished. 



APPENDICES. 
I. 

In founding Milton Abbey, ^thelstan gave " duas hidas terrse cum 
" pertinent iis suis apud Wydeconibe." 

The signatories were 
Wulfhelmus Dorobernensis (Winchester), ^thelredus, Cenwaldus, 
iElfredus, Cayman, Egwynus, Radulphus, Brinstanus, ^lla (or Alia) 
Osferdus, .;Elfledixs, ^thelmundus. 

Acta est hsec nostra donatio et concessio. . . . anno DCCC'XLIII., 
in villa regali quse dicitur Dorcacestria. [Kemble, in his Codex 
Diplomaticus, gives as the true date 23 April, 939. The Anglo- 
Saxon version, which he dates as 16 April, 928, bears the same Latin 
conclusion as the above. The name Alia would seem to be Gothic, as 
in Alaric, from Alareiks : All-ruler.] 



14 SCANDO-GOTHIC ART IN WESSEX. 

II. 

Domesday Book gives the following, under " Abbatia Middel- 
tunensis " : Ipsa ^cclesia tenet Widecome. T.R.E. geldabat pro 
VI. hidis. Terra (cultivated land) est VI. carucataruni (a hide or 
carucate is about 100 acres). De ea sunt dominio IV. hidae, et ibi I. 
car. et II. servi (bondmen) et VII. villani (laborers) et V. bordarii 
(cottagers) cum III. car. Ibi V. acrse prati, et pastura XIII. quarenten. 
long, et II. quarenten. lat. (a quarentena is 40 perches, and one perch 
is 20 feet). 
Valet IV libras et X solidos. 



It may be well, in a POSTSCRIPT, to call attention to a 
font (fig. E) in the church of St. John the Baptist at 
Stone, near Aylesbury. The sculpture has been said to 
represent the Three Persons of the Christian Godhead ; but 
who can seriously contend that a Ravenous Bird is the 
Holy Ghost, or that an Undraped Warrior, with a bitten 
hand, is the All Father ? 

On a Golden Horn, of the IV. Century, found in North 
Jutland, are similar nude persons, who Avield precisely 
similar swords, and who are surrounded by similar snakes 
and fishes.* 

The legend on this Christian font is a pagan overlap. In 
the centre of the sculptured group stands the god Tj-r, or 
Tew, whose name is preserved in our " Tuesday." A son 
of Odin, he was the most daring and intrepid of all his fellows. 
He was the inspirer and protector of brave men, and was 
called " the one-handed god of War." 

We read in Snorre's Edda how Fenris-wolf was bound. 
The gods craftily promised, when called upon, to loose his 
fetters. But he said " First let one of you lay his hand in 
my mouth, as a pledge that you are not deceiving me." 
And Tyr was the only one who had the courage to do so. 
Then Fenris-wolf struggled in vain to get free, and all the 



Stephens' Handbook of Rvmic Monuments, p. 85 




n 



SCANDO-GOTHIC ART IN WESSEX. 15 

gods laughed at him, except Tyr indeed, who lost his 
hand.* 

Thereupon a sword was thrust into the Wolf's mouth in 
such wise that while it pierced up to its hilt his under] aw, 
its point reached his palate. 

And the sculpture on the font shows one of the gods 
preparing to do so, whilst the hungry raven is eager to devour 
the flesh of the doomed monster, whose knotted tail shows 
that he is hopelessly bound. 

The Scando-Gothic Monk has Christianised Tyr into 
Christ, Who, though He grievously suffered in His conflict 
with the Powers of Evil, was finally victorious, aided by 
His faithful followers, who are represented by the lower 
and smaller human form. Christ, raising His sword over 
the terrified head of a worse foe than a lion, is treading 
upon an asp.j His valiant disciple stands upon a single 
leaf, and its nervature and shape strengthen the assumption 
that it belongs to the Laurus nobilis. The branches of the 
Baytree have long been regarded as Victory's attribute. 
They graced the brows of Heroes. In Sicily they were a 
security against thunder and the thunder-bolt. Among the 
Greeks they were used as a charm against poison and witch- 
craft, and, as a token of the Resurrection, they are still 
strewn over the floors of churches on the day before 
Easter Sunday. And, not a little remarkable, in the 
present interpretation, is the statement made by Pliny 
that " the Laurel is the only one among all the trees a 
single leaf of which has a distinct name of its own, laurea." % 

The three decorative interlacements may indicate a 
Byzantine influence. Such designs had much vogue in 
Italy during the VIII. Century, and were brought to the 
north of Europe by Italian Monks. The intreccio that runs 



* See also Loka-senna, 38 ; Corpus Poeticum Boreale I., 100. 

fPs. xci., 13. 

{ Naturalis Historia, xv., 30. 



16 SCANDO-GOTHIC ART IN WESSEX. 

round the rim of the font is threefold, and represents the 
Trinity in Unity ; that on the (heraldic) right, having 
neither beginning nor end, means Eternity ; whilst the 
other, an endless band interlacing a circle, teaches that 
Infinity is controlled by a Unity. And how effectively 
this Eternal Power coerces and restrains all pernicious 
beings, whether human or bestial, is made manifest by 
their tortured and woebegone faces. 

Quatrefoils and other floral details, when not purely 
decorative, may indicate the Rose of Sharon. 

Fishes, though pagan in origin, often find their place in 
Baptisteries and on fonts, since they represent the children 
of Regeneration.* 

Indeed, at Saint-Germain-des-Pres, in the chapel which 
contains the font, are sculptured two sirens, one female and 
the other male and bearded. Both of them hold fishes in 
their arms, and other fishes play in the surrounding waters. | 



qip 



* Nos pisciculi secundum ICHTHUN nostrum Jesum Christum, in 
aqua nescimur, nee aliter quani in aqua permanendo salvi sumus. — 
TertuUian, De Baptismo, Cap. 1. 

t Didron's Christian Iconography, edited by Margaret Stokes, Vol. I. 
p. 346. 



Dorset ;^$st^c5 in t\)c ^^c\)cntccx\t\) 
Ccnturp. 



By F. J. POPE, F.R.Hist.S. 




^ i^ i tf*"^ 




niHE fact that the Assize-Records of this period 
have been but little used for historical purposes 
is not surprising. So long as the books of the 
Court remained in the custody of the clerks of 
the various circuits, they seldom or never saw 
the light, and it is only within the last year 
or two that the transfer of the books to the 
Public Record Office has rendered them easily 
accessible. The maxim that " Record-makers 
are not good Record-keepers " seems true at least as regards 
these books, of which only a remnant still exists. The Bail 
Books for Dorset do not begin till 1654, the Gaol Books not 
till 1670, while the Order Books cover only the period 1629 
to 1687, with a gap during the Civil War, 1642 to 1646. The 
first are of no great value, merely containing the names of 
a certain number of Dorset people and indicating some of 
the less serious indictments. The Gaol Books are of greater 
interest, since they show the crimes prevalent in the county 
and the punishments inflicted. The Order Books deal with 
a great variety of subjects, including matters connected ^^■ith 



18 DORSET ASSIZES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

general administration, and are j)erhaps the most valuable 
of the series. The material for this paper has been derived 
from these Assize-Books and from a few references to pro- 
ceedings at the Assizes scattered through the Domestic State 
Papers. Of civil suits there are no records except some 
Postea Books, which, since they give only the bare titles of 
the suits, seem to be of no value for any purpose. There 
being a preponderance of references to crime in the records 
which survive, it will be desirable to deal first with such 
criminal matters as came before the Judges. 

It must be confessed that the Gaol Books form somewhat 
dry reading. At Assize after Assize comes the same dreary 
record of murder, stealing of sheep and horses, highway rob- 
beries, burglaries, and larceny, interspersed of course with 
entries relating to less common offences. Sometimes murder 
cases were especially numerous (there were seven in the 
Autumn of 1679), and at other times the criminal class seems 
to show a particular tendency to appropriate other people's 
sheep or horses. The most distressing feature of the tale of 
crime in Dorset at this period (no doubt it Avas the same in 
other parts of the kingdom) was the great frequency of 
murder of infants by their mothers, generally with the assist- 
ance of one or two other persons. The punishment meted 
out by the Judges naturally varied with the circumstances. 
The death sentence was carried into effect for murder, sheep- 
stealing, horse-stealing, highway robbery, and burglarj^, and 
there are isolated instances of the same penalty for picking 
pockets and for stealing a watch ; but there was no invariable 
rule, and many a perpetrator of grave crime escaped with his 
or her life. Some of the unhappy mothers to whom allusion 
has been made, and whose children presumably died of neglect, 
received no other punishment than a few weeks in the house 
of correction, and others who, since they were sentenced to 
be hanged, were surely guilty of wilful murder, were respited 
and either transported or pardoned after a few months in 
prison. Such commutation of the death-penalty was fre- 
quently granted to all kinds of felons, and a common method 



DORSET ASSIZES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 19 

of exercising leniency was to admit the criminal to " Benefit 
of Clergy." Above the entry of such an one in the Gaol Book 
may be read two sentences in contracted Latin signifying 
" Asked for a book " and " Read as a cleric," and in the 
margin is written the word " Clergie." And this loophole 
of escape was, if offered, open to all men and, towards the end 
of the century, to women also. The test of reading, as appears 
from text books on the subject, consisted in repeating, with 
open Bible in hand, the 1st verse of the 51st Psalm, appro- 
priately called " the neck verse," — a feat which, it would 
seem, could easily be accomplished even by the most illiterate. 
The names of scores of persons may be found in the Dorset 
Gaol Books who, as was pretended, saved their lives in this 
fashion. All were branded in the hand, the letter " M " 
being used for murder, and " T " for theft. A gentleman 
named John Davis, who in 1671 was found guilty of the 
" murder " of Mr. John Dawbeny by striking him with a stone, 
was allowed the " Benefit " and branded, but suffered no 
other punishment. And a man, convicted of no less than 
seven cases of sheep-stealing, was also found to be a cleric. 
Sheep -stealing, it may be remarked in passing, was often 
carried out on a large scale. In 1642 a thief stole as many as 
70 sheep from the common fields of Nether Cerne, and there 
was nothing unusual in a conviction for taking a couple of 
score or more, — sufficient, it may be observed, to bring small 
stockowners to ruin, — and in all likelihood the depredators 
were frequently not discovered. In pronouncing sentences, 
Judges were much influenced by the money value of goods 
stolen. Two burglars, who entered a house with intent to 
steal but got nothing, were fined 40s. each, and in a similar 
case another burglar paid but 10s. One who broke into Sir 
John Strode's mansion house (? at Parnham) and stole 31 
bottles of claret was condemned to death, but respited on his 
expressing " his desire to be transported." Culprits of 
smaller offences, such as taking a neighbour's pigs, poultry, 
or small personal belongings were almost invariably whipped. 
It is a somewhat extraordinary fact that while sheep-stealing 



20 DORSET ASSIZES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

was often punished by death, pig-stealing Avas treated as 
petty larceny. 

Three or four deeds of violence are recorded, which must 
have made considerable stir in the county at the time of their 
occurrence, and thus call for particular mention. When we 
read in the Gaol Book for 1684 that Matthew Burt, charged 
Avith murder, pleaded guilty to the homicide of John Colling- 
don with a fowling piece, and that Burt had " Benefit of 
Clergy," and except for branding went scot-free, we see 
nothing remarkable in the entry. But when we know from 
other records that Matthew Burt, a yeoman of Mapperton, 
suffered from a load of debt and that his neighbour John 
Collingdon was a bailiff, there naturally follows the con- 
jecture that the bailiff was shot in an attempt to arrest Burt 
for debt. An incident which happened just beyond the 
Dorset border, at Crewkerne, suggests that the courts regarded 
bailiff-shooting under such circumstances as an almost venial 
offence. At Crewkerne Fair in 1597, as appears from some 
proceedings in the Court of Chancery, a bailiff named Fox 
tried to arrest Thomas Merefield, who shot and killed his 
would-be captor without seiious consequence to himself. In 
fact, Merefield duly received his pardon. But this was not 
the end of the matter. Thirty-six years later, in 1633, some 
members of Fox's famity contrived to have Merefield 
arraigned for the murder at the Somerset Assizes, when the 
Grand Jury ignored the bill, and the dead man's relatives 
were promised imprisonment if they trovibled Merefield again. 
It should be observed that neither Burt nor Merefield was in 
a position to exercise influence in high places, and neither 
was capable of raising a large sum of money for securing 
favourable treatment. 

Next may be mentioned two highway robberies, one in 
1674 and the other in 1696. In the former year the Exeter 
carrier called " Mr. John Mathew," coming from London, 
was stopped near Milborne St. Andrew by four men, who 
took over £800 from the waggon and decamped. Mathew 
followed the robbers until they told him that " hee should 



DORSET ASSIZES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 21 

leave them utiles hee would loose his life before his time," 
on which the unfortunate carrier went back to his waggon. 
It was considered that the robbers showed remarkable bold- 
ness, owing to the fact that the Judges on their way to the 
Assizes at Dorchester had passed the spot only half an hour 
previous]J^ A coachman named Kinge was suspected of 
being concerned in the robbery, but was acquitted at the 
Assizes, and neither robbers nor money were ever discovered. 
The perpetrators of the other highway robbery in 1696 were 
not so lucky. On this occasion William Sampson, John 
Dampier, and Robert Everett were escorting a horse carrying 
£750 of money belonging to the Royal Treasury (probably 
tax money) on the King's highway, when a party of four des- 
cended on them and carried off the whole of the treasure. 
It must have been evident that somebody had to suffer for 
such a daring exploit, and three men (it is to be hoped they 
were the real culprits) were hanged for the robbery and one 
transported. It is a curious circumstance that the three 
tax-gatherers (if such they were), shortly after losing the 
money entrusted to them, met with another gang of thieves 
who relieved them of the horse, some small sums of money 
in their pockets, and, attracted by some silver buckles, left 
one of the wayfarers shoeless. 

Perhaps the most remarkable crime recorded in the Assize 
Books was the murder or manslaughter of Robert Knight, a 
collector of hearth tax at Bridport. In an Order Book under 
the date 1668 it is stated that a large number of Bridport 
people had a share in the matter, and that some of them had 
been indicted, some were in gaol, and others had not been 
discovered. An inquiry was to be held by certain Justices, 
a Coroner, and some officials of the borough. The result of 
the inquiry does not appear, but a letter among the Domestic 
State Papers throws some light on the affair. The writer 
says 

" From first entring into the Tovvne the greatest part of the Towne, 
men, women, and children, followed them (the tax-collectors) about 
the streets throwing stones at them, and little appearance of the 



22 DORSET ASSIZES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

magistrate to quell the Tumult. Oiie stone from them hitt Mr. 
Knight, one of the hearth men, upon the forehead and knocked hini 
downe, riseing againe another stone hitt him in the hinder part of the 
head and soe was caryed into a howse and the same day seven night 
dyed of the wound. Its said all this designd before ther comeing and 
the non-appearance of i.he magistrate shows it too much." 

There being no Gaol Book of this date, no information is 
available as to how all these people of Bridport were dealt 
with, but the Bail Book for 1668 gives the names of some 
half dozen men of Bridport who were admitted to bail, perhaps 
charged with participating in the attack on Knight. Some 
of the names were, and still are, well known at Bridport. 

Among the less frequent indictments may be included those 
for arson, the illegal export of wool, cheating, vagrancy, 
witchcraft, offences against the Church, the passing of false 
coins, clipping coins, sedition, and high treason. A Moman 
who in 1684 burned a dwellinghouse was executed, but another 
who a dozen years later, wishing to destroy her neighbour's 
houses, adopted the curious expedient of setting fire to her 
own house, was fined 20 nobles. Vagrants received very 
stern treatment. In 1657 two very dangerous and suspicious 
men were to be taken by the Sheriff to Shaftesbury and 
" there be A\"hipt on their naked backs until they bleed and 
from thence be sent from tythinge to tythinge by passes to 
the severall places of their births." Some of these wanderers 
had travelled far from home. A family of four adults arid 
four children had come from Derby, and another vagrant, 
Dunkin Mackanon, was a Scottish highlander. They \\ere 
usually branded on the left shoulder " according to law." 
There are but three references to witchcraft. Alice Abram 
alias Browning, of Tolpuddle, said to be a witch, was in 1655 
admitted to bail, eleven men of the neighbourhood being 
bound over to prosecute. A little later, in 1660, a committee 
was appointed to enquire with all speed into " the busines 
concerninge witchcraft and consultacon with the Devill and 
Evil Spirits at Sherborne." The latest mention of witchcraft 
occurs in 1687, when Deanes Grimmerton, accused of 



DORSET ASSIZES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 23 

bewitching Nathaniel Scorch, was apparently acquitted. For 
speaking against the Church in 1673 a fine of 3s. 4d. was 
imposed, but even this small sum was remitted ; and by May 
of contrast it may be stated that absence from church for 
three weeks was punished by a much heavier fine, 26s., and 
that three men who in 1675 had worked on " The Lord's 
Day " were kept in prison till the following Assizes. Cheating 
and uttering false coin were not considered serious crimes, 
but the clipping of coin was a very different matter, con- 
stituting in fact an act of high treason, and clippers were 
always drawn and quartered. 

It will be convenient for present purposes to take the 
more important cases of sedition and high treason together, 
although in legal eyes they were of course by no means the 
same thing. Probably many Dorset men were implicated in 
Penruddock's rising in Wiltshire in 1655, and the names of a 
few occur in the Bail Books of 1655-6, the most prominent 
being Roger Coker, of Keyneston, and Thomas Bragge, vicar 
of Horton. In Charles the Second's reign there is nothing 
but a few paltry accusations of speaking seditious words, and 
a prosecution of 14 men for joining in a seditious assembly at 
Sherborne in 1674. It is not until the coming of the Duke of 
Monmouth that there is anything worth recording, and then 
in the Gaol Book of 1685 may be found page after page filled 
with the names of those indicted for levying war against the 
King. So much has been printed respecting the Monmouth 
rebels, that it will be sufficient to note here that the charges 
of levying war number 321 , and that opposite 57 of the names is 
drawn a hieroglyphic resembling a wheel, the words " Ts et 
Ss," signifying that these 57 wretches were drawn and quar- 
tered. But, besides the actual rebels, there were 21 convicted 
of lesser offences in connection with the rebellion, such as 
spreading false news, uttering seditious words, recruiting for 
the Duke's forces, or entertaining rebels. The false news was 
generally to the effect that the King was dead, or that Mon- 
mouth was not dead and would come again, and in an utter- 
ance of Thomas Pitt's we have a specimen of the rumours 



24 DORSET ASSIZES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

that were flying about the country. " Hampshire," he 
related, " is upp in armes for the Duke of Monmouth. I saw 
both horse and foote souldiers on the hill neere Christchurch. 
Argile is much increased in strength and is on his marche in 
England and within Ix miles of London." Sedition of this 
petty type was in most cases expiated by a whijoping and a 
fine of five marks, but for some reason a few speakers of 
sedition Avere subjected to the pillory. William Do well was 
sentenced to remain an hour in this instrument of torture in 
each of the towns of Dorchester, Sherborne, and Cerne Abbas, 
and a member of a notable Weymouth family, Henry Cuttance, 
suffered similarly at Melcombe Regis. Hugh Green, a gentle- 
man of Nether Compton, was fined £3 for reading the Duke's 
Declaration in public, and compelled to find bail for good 
behaviour during the rest of his life. In the year following 
the rebellion, two men, who cut down rebels' quarters, were 
pilloried for an hour on a Satvirday at Dorchester. At the 
accession of William and Mary there were still a few of the 
rebels in Dorchester Gaol, and these were at once released, the 
flight of King James coming in the nick of time to save at 
least one of them from transportation. Later than the 
Monmouth Rebellion there was little inducement for Dorset 
folk to join in treasonable or seditious pi'actices, bitt in 1689 
one William Clarke was so out-of -fashion as to announce his 
love for the expelled James in these words : " King James, 
a poore innocent harmless King was wrongfully driven out of 
his Kingdom by a company of Rogues and Traj^tors that did 
endeavour to destroy King and Kingdom. I will list men to 
fight for King James and restore him againe. A health to 
the late King James and Prince of Wales, and confusion to 
«he other. King William is a rebell and have noe right to 
the Crowne." The Court could afford to treat the Jacobite 
with leniency. He had to pay five marks, and was kept in 
prison for a short time. 

Before leaving the subject of crime, it will be well to men- 
tion that, although it is impossible to gauge the amount of 
crime that went unpunished, it was undoubtedly very large. 



DORSET ASSIZES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 25 

Indications of this may be found in the considerable number of 
bills thrown out by the Grand Jury, and in the not infrequent 
fines inflicted on tithings for suffering the escape of murderers, 
who were moreover known and named. The fines were 
collected by distraint, or threat of distraint, on one of the 
principal inhabitants, who was allowed to recoup himself in 
part by levying a rate on his neighbours. 

Attention may now be directed to the work carried out at 
the Assizes in connection with the civil administration in the 
county, as depicted in the Order Books. The orders refer to 
disputes between parishes as to the settlement of paupers, 
refusals to take apprentices appointed by parochial officers, 
the repair of highways and bridges, the erection of cottages 
without sufficient land attached, the appointment of coroners 
and of constables of Hundreds, suppression of alehouses, and 
some other subjects which can hardly be classified. One 
of the disputes concerning paupers is perhaps worth a passing 
notice. Robert Way was born at Wimborne, and eighteen 
years later went beyond the seas, but returning again to his 
native place, lived there for some short time, and then moved 
to Ringwood, where he rented some land, and at Ringwood 
Way fell on evil days and seemed likely to become a charge 
on the parish. Under these circumstances, the people of 
Ringwood drove Way out of their town, and put pressure on 
his landlord to prevent the (possible) pauper being brought 
back. The Court decided that Ringwood would have to 
maintain Way if the necessity arose. Disputes of this kind 
were exceedingly frequent, and indeed the whole subject of 
pauperism must have been one of the most pressing problems 
with which the authorities were confronted. In 1635 a large 
number of the inhabitants of Sturminster Marshall were 
turned out of their houses, the result, it may be imagined, of 
a quarrel about the title to an estate, and were living under 
hedges, and were " like to perish for want of succour." Two 
Justices were ordered to make immediate arrangements for 
their relief. The apprenticing of poor children was also the 
cause of a good deal of trouble, for employers naturally 



26 DORSET ASSIZES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

preferred to choose their own apprentices, and objected to 
the coercion applied by the overseers. Henry Stone, of Min- 
terne, was paid 40s. for taking from the parish a boy who 
turned out to be a bad character. He stole £5 from his master, 
and was in consequence burned in the hand and put in prison. 
Stone was then ordered to pay back the 40s. to the parish, 
and the boy was to remain in prison until the parish found 
him another master. Refusals to take such apprentices 
were evidently justifiable in some cases. 

When roads or bridges fell into disrepair, the authority 
of the Assize Court was often employed to enforce the duty of 
putting them in order. Both owners and occupiers of land 
had a custom, when troubled with surplus water, of diverting 
water courses into highways, the consequences being decidedly 
unpleasant for travellers, and the offenders, whatever their 
social status, were promptly called to account. The 
responsibility for the repair of bridges was sometimes a 
delicate question, depending partly on ancient custom. In 
or before 1636 there had been a process against the 
Hundreds of Badbury and Cogdean for the repair of 
Julian Bridge. In 1647 the inhabitants of Wareham 
were presented at the Assizes for not repairing the south 
bridge of their town, " being a very great bridge con- 
sisting of seaven arches and of a very great length," and 
later the Wareham people petitioned that the work might be 
done by the county. An enquiry into the matter was to be 
made by two gentlemen of the Grand Jury. In the same 
year a sum of £80 was to be raised by the county of Dorset to 
repair the " Common bridge over a great river near Yeovil," 
broken down by soldiers during the Civil War, whereby the 
lives of travellers had been endangered, some of them falling 
into the river. It is added that the road served by the 
bridge is the great road running from the West to the City of 
London. Other County bridges referred to are Craford 
Bridge (in 1640) and Stocking Bridge (in 1641). There is 
also mention of a few parish bridges, viz. : Julian Bridge and 
Fivebridges in Sherborne Hundred, Hossey Bridge in Manston, 



DORSET ASSIZES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 27 

Parsons Bridge in Pulham, Crickmore Bridge in the Hundred 
of Cogdean, a bridge in Marnhull, and a footbridge at Wool, 
all in the period 1637 to 1651. 

There are signs that the ancient system, already 
obsolete, on which the county was divided for administrative 
purposes, was found to be a hindrance to the proper per- 
formance of police duties. The borough of Blandford ad- 
joined and was intermixed with " divers habitations 
called the Warnership of Pimperne," and when persons of 
ill behaviour were hunted out of the borough they took 
shelter in alehouses in the Warnership, and there defied 
the constables in safety. An order in 1637 enacts that 
the constables of Blandford shall be permitted to enter the 
Warnership, and that borough and Warnership shall join 
together in their watches and wards for His Majesty's 
service. 

The duty of watch and ward is often emphasized. In 1646 
any persons refusing this service were to be bound over to 
appear at the next Assizes, and in 1651 it is noted that there 
had been great neglect in this respect, and the number of 
men usually so employed were to be doubled. Four years 
later the Court speaks of " the manj^fold dangers and incon- 
venience which doe dajdy happen in those places which lye 
neere unto the sea coast, by reason of the multitude of idle 
persons, who can give noe good account of theire beings, 
makeinge that theire place of refuge." Constables are to see 
that watch and ward are duly kept in such places, with a 
view to all wandering persons being examined, and to report 
their proceedings to the justices. 

Another duty imposed on all during some part of the cen- 
tury was the observance of the last Wednesday in every 
month as a day of solemn fast and humiliation. It is stated 
in 1646 that the practice had fallen into disuse in many parts 
of the country, and that the Lord's Day was often profaned. 
Also the statute of the first year of Elizabeth's reign, enforcing 
attendance at the parish church on Sundays and holidays, 
was in 1640 often evaded, and constables were to present the 



28 DORSET ASSIZES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

names of persons not frequenting their respective churches 
to justices, who would inflict a fine of 12d. for ever}^ Sunday 
neglected. 

There was considerable difficulty, about the middle of the 
century, in finding men both willing and qualified for the 
office of coroner. It is repeatedly asserted that three coroners 
were required for the whole county, but often not more than 
one was available. Henry Clapcott, on being selected for the 
office, claimed exemption on the ground that he was an 
attorney of Common Pleas, an excuse that had to be admitted. 
John Randoll, of Piddletrenthide, objected that he was not 
well versed in the laws and had no freehold in the county. 
George Savadge, of Deane, was quite willing to serve, and 
filled the office for a short time, but was discharged for neglect 
of duty. Thomas Younge, another willing occupier of the 
post, was removed owing to the discovery that he was deeply 
in debt, and that, since he was frequently being chased by 
bailiffs, his duties (as might be imagined) suffered. Thomas 
Gollop, of Caundle Marsh, stopped the gap for seven years, 
generally working single-handed, but at the end of that period 
found that he was not proi3erly qualified, not being a free- 
holder. 

In conclusion a short account will be given of a vigorous 
camiJaign against drunkenness, apparent in the Order Books, 
during the second quarter of the century, when great efforts 
(unavailing, it is to be feared) were put forth with the object 
of making Dorset men more sober. It began, so far as the 
records now under reference can show, in 1628, with an attempt 
to abolish Church and other Ales. '" All publique Revells, 
Church Ales, Clerkes Ales, and other Ales " were to be utterly 
suppressed. Three years later the order had not been obeyed, 
and the gentlemen of the Grand Jury and constables of 
Hundreds and Liberties were then to present at the Grand 
Inquest all cases of Ales, with a report of " the Keepers of 
the said Ales and Revells, tiplers, and mynstrels resorting 
unto and Keepinge tiplinge and mynstrelsy there." This 
seems to have marked the end of Ales, for no more is heard of 



DORSET ASSIZES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 29 

them, but the number of alehouses increased b}^ leaps and 
bounds. In 1632 Thomas Bartlett, of Puddletown, was dis- 
tinguished by the illrule and drunkenness in his alehouse, 
which was to be suppressed. But Bartlett was not an easy 
man to deal with. He abused the constables who came to 
carry out the orders and successfully resisted them, no doubt 
with the assistance of some of the villagers, for Puddletown 
possessed only this one alehouse, and its suppression \\ould 
have meant total abstinence from beer on the part of most of 
the smaller householders. After the lapse of several months, 
and when another man was readj' to take his place, Bartlett 
was removed, but little was gained by getting rid of this 
particular offender. A very few years later, Puddletown 
was able to boast of four alehouses, besides an inn, and the 
place was then said to be very disorderly. There were few 
parts of the county where similar measures were not required. 
Wambrook, Chardstock, HaAvkchurch, Netherbury, the Hun- 
dred of Buckland, Sturminster Newton, Shaftesbury, and 
Wareham all earned especial orders from the Court. Also, in 
a petition from the ministers of Yetminster and adjacent 
parishes, complaint was made that the excessive number of 
alehouses occasioned much drunkenness on the Sabbath as 
well as on weekdaj-s. Thej' add that from this cause " the 
word of God looseth its fruit, God is dishonoured, men's 
estate exhausted wch should be spent on their families, and 
for the intollerable abuse of the Creatures a famine, Avithout 
God's especial mercy, is justly to be feared." But nothing 
effectual was accomplished. Subsequent to all these orders 
for suppression comes the old complaint, this time from the 
Grand Jury in 1646, of the multiplication of alehouses and the 
increase of abuses and disorders ; and there are still later 
entries in the Order Books showing that the want of a licence 
did not always deter an alehouse keeper from carrying on his 
business. So far as the Assizes were concerned, the campaign 
against alehouses was abandoned soon after 1650. It would 
appear that the people wished to drink to excess, and no 
power on earth could stop them. 



30 DORSET ASSIZES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 

A perusal of the Assize Books leaves the general impression 
that a great part of the inhabitants of Dorset in the 17th 
century Avere addicted to crime, drunkenness, or other vice, 
or were submerged in poverty ; but there is at least the 
redeeming fact that those in power fought strenuously, 
according to their lights, against all these evils, and such 
records as these serve to remind us of hoAv much the present 
generation owes to the improvements in social conditions 
effected, little by little, in past centuries. 



^\jc Ancient 
CnirtljiDorks of (tranliornc €l)it$c. 



By HEYWOOD SUMNER, F.S.A. 



:" X^7I>. 




plans which I am submitting for j'our 
inspection to-day are an attempt to put 
into practise the preaching of the Archaeo- 
logical Committee on Ancient Earthworks. 
This committee has urged that plans 
and schedules should be made of our 
Ancient Earthworks throughout England ; 
that a definite area should be undertaken 
by each worker ; and that the plans should 
be made on the 25 inch scale. My daily 
view extends over Cranborne Chase, and curiosity had often 
led me to investigate its varied earthworks. In so doing 
I had felt the want of a complete record of their plans. 
Thus it came to pass that two years ago I ventured to 
undertake a definite survey of the Ancient Earthworks on 
Cranborne Chase, the results of which you see before j'Ou. 
It is curious that the old cartographers, Saxton, Norden, 
and Speed, did not mark camps and earthworks in their 
surveys. Speed records a few in his letterpress descriptions 



32 ANCIENT EARTHWORKS OF CRANBORNE CHASE. 

of the counties, and in writing of Dorset he mentions 
Maumbury, Poundbury, Maiden Castle, and Badbury — but 
that is all. Evidently they were held in small estimation by 
our ancestors, a neglect that increases the debt of gratitude 
that we owe to Dr. Stukeley, whose " Itinerarium Curiosum- " 
(published in 1724) was the first contribution to a study of 
these priceless relics of our history by means of plans. 

When maps were few, and surveys scant, how exciting 
must have been the search for Ancient Earthworks ! Imagine 
a description of Dorset — as Speed describes it — with never a 
word about the camps on Hambledon Hill, or on Hod Hill, 
and with no mention of Bokerly Dyke ! And then think of 
riding afield as a roving enquirer, and coming upon these 
forgotten earthworks that express such indomitable energy, 
and that confront us with such great problems of prehistoric 
life. This was the happy fortune of the antiquary in the 
18th Century. What Dr. Stukeley began, Sir Richard Colt 
Hoare continued. In the early years of the 19th Century he 
gave up hunting foxes in favour of hunting earthworks, and 
the ardour of his new chase led him across the borders of his 
native Wiltshire into Dorset and the district of our survey. 
His folio volumes on " Ancient Wiltshire " contain most 
beautifully engraved plans of several of the earthworks on 
Cranborne Chase ; but their accuracy is not equal to their 
execution. Mr. Charles Warne's " Illustrated Map of Dorset- 
shire " also includes some of these earthworks, but this 
admirable map only locates sites ; it is on too small a scale 
to give any details of plan. In " Ancient Dorset," by the 
same author, there are a few wood-cuts of camp plans that 
are scarcely worthj^ of their purpose. The most accurate 
plans of Earthworks on Cranborne Chase are to be found in 
General Pitt Rivers' works ; but they only include the sites 
of his excavations. Accordingly, if Ave wish to study plans 
of the various earthworks in this district, we must obtain 
about 40 6-inch Ordnance Survey sheets whereon they are 
recorded. The Ordnance Survey is a most admirable and 
exact work, from its own point of view, but it is not the 



ANCIENT EARTHWORKS OF CRANBORNE CHASE. 33 

court of final appeal in matters of antiquity. There are 
omissions, and there are misunderstandings, and so the 
antiquary has still got his part to plaj^ and ma}' still help to 
perfect such a record. 

The method that I have adopted in making this survey 
has been — first, to make a tracing of the 25-inch O.S. sheet 
that records the earthwork under examination. Then to 
study the 6-inch O.S. sheet of the same place, in order to 
note the rise and fall of the land, which are shewn by contour 
lines on the 6-inch scale, but not on the 25-inch. Then to 
examine the site with both the 25-inch tracing and the 6-inch 
sheet, in order to verif}^ the record, and to supplement 
omissions. And finally to measure up typical sections of the 
earthwork. 

In one case — the large pastoral enclosure on Rockbourne 
Down — I have made an original survej', as it is not recorded 
in any of the maps of the Ordnance Survey. 

The limits of this district of Cranborne Chase have been 
the cause of much contention. But with this we have no 
concern. The outer bounds or extreme limits of the Chase 
as recorded by the Perambulations, 29, Henry III., and 8, 
Edward I., and in two maps of A.D. 1618 by Richard 
Hardinge and Thomas Aldwell respectively, are the bound- 
aries of our survey. These boundaries, though mediaeval, are 
founded upon natural features, that have always tended to 
impart a certain local and separate character to this district. 

Even now Cranborne Chase is a peculiar district. It lies 
apart from railroads, and apart from most of the road traffic 
that passes through Ringwood, Wimborne, Blandford, 
Shaftesbury, or Salisbury. It is a solitary tract of down- 
land, corn-land, wood-land, and Avaste. Dry valleys run far 
up into the steep flanks of the Oxdrove Ridgeway that is the 
backbone of the Chase. Streams emerge with intermittent 
flow in the lower slopes of these valleys. The present villages, 
with the exception of Whitsbury and Ashmore, are in the 
lowlands. While, on the uplands will be found the sites of 
many ancient British villages. Barrows, both long and 



34 ANCIENT EARTHWORKS OF CRANBORNE CHASE. 

round ; camps of defence ; boundary banks and ditches ; 
pastoral enclosures ; cultivation banks ; Roman roads ; and 
dykes of defence, all testify to the former habitation and 
desirability of this now solitary land. On the East it was 
bounded by the New Forest. On the South by the Holt 
Forest and the heathland of Dorset. On the West by the 
Forest of Blackmore ; and on the North by the forests and 
swamps of the valley of the Nadder. Amid such surroundings 
the rolling downs of Cranborne Chase must have emerged 
as desirable land. Its chalk soil suited the requirements of 
the early camp makers, and it was well watered ; for the 
rainfall we believe to have been greater then than now, and 
the evidence of General Pitt Rivers' Roman well at Woodcuts 
shows that the water level in the chalk has sunk since this 
well was in use 1,600 years ago. Think of the Tarrant, the 
Allen, the Long Crichel, and Gussage brooks, the Crane, 
the Martin Allen, the Rockbourne brook, the Ebble, the 
Donhead, the Iwerne, and PimjDerne brooks. Think of all 
these streams flowing constantly from 50 to 100 feet above 
their present rise, and we get a very different conception of 
the prehistoric pastoral and agricultural value of this tract 
of country. A truly desirable land when contrasted with its 
surroundings. 

These natural conditions may account for the large number 
of great hill-top camps within the area of this survey, that 
are probably among the most ancient as they are certainly 
the most conspicuous earthworks on Cranborne Chase. 
They also account for the later pastoral and agricultural 
earthworks, and for the numerous British village sites, which 
are specially frequent in the centre of the Chase. 

The following list will give an idea of the number and 
variety of these earthworks. 

Hill-top Camps. 

Hod Hill, 50 acres ; Hambledon Hill, 25 acres ; Castle 
Ditches, near Tisbury, 23 acres ; Badbury Rings, 18 acres ; 
Whitsbury Castle Ditches, 16 acres ; Winkel-bury, 12| acres ; 



ANCIENT EARTHWORKS OF CRANBORNE CHASE. 35 

Castle Rings, near Shaftesbury, 11 J acres ; Buzbury Rings, 
11 acres ; Chiselbury, 10 acres ; Clearbury Ring, 5 acres ; 
Damerham Knoll, 3| acres ; Penbury Knoll, 3h acres. 
(Twelve in all.) 

1413083 

Camps on High Ground. 

Bussey Stool Park, 5| acres ; Odstock Copse, fragment, 
3 1 acres ; Mistleberry Wood, 2 acres ; Thickthorn Down, 
fragment, f acre. 

Enclosures, probably for Pastoral Purposes. 

Rockbourne Down, 96 acres ; Soldiers' Ring, 27 acres ; 
Chicken-grove, 12 acres ; Vernditch, fragment, 8 acres : 
South Tarrant Hinton Down (1)8 acres, (2) 5 acres ; Tarrant 
Hinton Down, 6 acres ; Knighton Hill Buildings, 2^ acres ; 
Martin Down, 2 acres ; Bussey Stool Park, 1| acres ; Wood- 
cuts (2) ; Pimperne Down, fragment ; Prescombe Down, 
f acre ; South Lodge, Rushmore, | acre ; Handley Hill, 
I acre ; Knighton Hill, J acre ; Oakley Down, J acre ; 
Fifield Down, h acre ; Chettle Down ; Mountslow. (Twenty- 
one in all.) 

British Village Sites. 

Gussage Down ; Tarrant Hinton Down ; South Tarrant 
Hinton Down ; Chettle Down ; Blandford Race Down ; Oakley 
Down ; Middlechase Farm ; Marleycombe Hill ; Berwick Down ; 
Rotherley; Woodcuts; Woodyates; Fontmell Down; (?) 
Swallowcliffe Down ; Blackbush on Pentridge ; Tidpit Down ; 
(Sixteen in all.) 

Defensive Dykes and Ditches. 

Bokerly Dyke ; Charlton Down ; Hatts Barn ; Melbury 
Hill ; Fontmell Down ; Tennerley Ditch ; Half-Mile Ditch 
(White Sheet Hill) ; Row Ditch ; Buxbury Hill ; Burcomb 
Punch-bowl. 



36 ancient earthworks of cranborne chase. 
Boundary Banks and Ditches. 

Grim's Ditch ; Banks and Ditch running N.E. from Whits- 
bury Castle Ditches to Breamore Mizmaze ; Banks and 
Ditch running E. from Whitsbury Castle Ditches, towards 
Whitsbury Common, now only discernible in a wood called 
Rowdidge ; Banks and Ditch running over Martin Down, 
E. of Bokerly Dyke to Vernditch, excavated by General 
Pitt Rivers and proved to be of the Bronze Age ; Banks and 
Ditch crossing Launceston Down ; Banks and Ditch between 
Blandford Race Down, Buzburj- Rings, and dj'ing away 
pointing for Spettisbury Ring or Crawfurd Castle. 

Earthworks of Exceptional Character. 

Knowlton Circles. 

Circle within which stands the ruined Church IJ acres 
Partially effaced circle within which stand 

New Barn Buildings . . . . . . 8 J acres 

Almost effaced circle to the North-West of 

circle No. 1 . . . . . . . . . . 1 acre 

Almost effaced circle beside the above. . . . A acre 

Cranborne Castle. Castle Green, Shaftesbur}'. 
Breamore Mizmaze. 

The Principal Long Barrows. 

Giant's Grave, near Clearbury ; Giant's Grave, near 
Breamore Mizmaze ; Duck's Nest, near Rockbourne Down ; 
Grans Barrow and Knap Barrow on Knoll Down (?) ; Round 
Clump, near Great Yews ; near Tidpit Common Do^^■n ; 
near Bokerly Dyke (2) (?) ; Down, near Waterlake, beneath 
Pentridge Hill ; Wor Barrow ; Oakley Down ; Gussage 
Down (2) ; Thickthorn Down ; Launceston Down ; near 
Tarrant Hinton Do\An ; Chettle Long Barrow ; Blandford 
Race Down ; Pimperne Long Barrow ; Langton Down ; 
Whitesheet Hill ; Hambledon Hill (?). (Twenty -three in all.) 



ancient earthworks of cranborne chase. 37 

Roman Works. 

Roman Road, from Sarum to Badburj^ where one branch 
goes on to Dorchester and another to Poole ; another road 
turns off to the north-west from Badbury, through Eastbury 
Park to Ashmore, pomting for Donhead, and the Groveley 
Ridge ; the inner camp on Hod Hill ; Hem&worth Villa ; 
Barton Hill Villa ; Iwerne Minster Villa. 

The sequence of such a long list of varied earthworks 
bristles Avith debatable points, and demands a book rather 
than a short paper ; but the clock compels me merely to give 
general conclusions — tentative conclusions — for considera- 
tion. 

I think that the Hilltop camps probably represent the 
actual sites of the pre-Roman Tribal habitations on Cranborne 
Chase, at a period when wealth consisted in flocks and herds, 
and when Tribal hostility was frequent ; and that the great 
scale of their banks and ditches is mainly original, though in 
several instances the defences seem to have been enlarged or 
raised. 

That the open British village sites represent a later -and a 
different phase of Tribal life ; when there were planters of 
corn on a considerable scale, as well as tenders of cattle, and 
when men counted on reaping where they had sown. 

That the lovs^ Boundary Banks and Ditches represent a 
period A^hen areas of occupation were decided by mutual 
agreement, and that their parallel duplication and triplica- 
tion, which happens near British village sites, may represent 
defence. 

That here, in this district of Cranborne Chase, the Roman 
occupation represents a period of peace and prosperity, and 
that the British villages \\'ere Romanized. 

And finally, that the great defensive Banks and Ditches, 
such as Bokerly, Half-Mile Ditch, Charlton Down, &c., 
represent the period of the oncoming West Saxon — A.D. 552 
to 577, when imminent danger came from one direction — 
from the East, as their banks testify. And to this period 



38 ANCIENT EARTHWORKS OF CRANBORNE CHASE. 

also I am inclined to suppose may belong the great earth- 
works on the South-Eastern approach of Hambledon Hill ; 
the uneven height that appears to have been added to the 
inner bank of the camp on Hod Hill ; and the high, narrow- 
topped inner bank on the Eastern side of Whitsbury Castle 
Ditches. 



-4>^$<- 



38 ANCIENT EARTHWORKS OF CRANBORNE CHASE. 

also I am inclined to suppose may belong the great earth- 
works on the South-Eastern approach of Hambledon Hill ; 
the uneven height that appears to have been added to the 
inner bank of the camp on Hod Hill ; and the high, narrow- 
topped inner bank on the Eastern side of Whitsbury Castle 
Ditches. 



*<^$4* 






„J0^ I !|| 41 Mffl 



4? 



■■■•v^jj/jj^iuiijt^" jj^j^y 



/l>«M^% .,,, -.. .,,..- 





'Tarra/nJi '^-iAAxtim. i^o/nMv. // ■ ■'?ii(v 




'! % 

jvr.'co-. Co S.& // # 

i III 









;/ /^ ■ " ■ .... '^n/gi^TLq toiMsLWJ r^1f^ 




-I I I I I I I I I r 




O SorvU. unohoi/rvi 



lOcAai/nA. (-1 c>uu/n. =22>^<3>oU>) 20. 



ANCIENT EARTHWORKS OF CRANBORNE CHASE. 39 

NOTES DESCRIPTIVE OF THE FOREGOING PLANS. 

(Respecting the plan conventions. The shading Unes that indicate 
earthwork banks show the top of the bank by the thick end of the hne, 
the bottom by the thin end. Dotted spaces indicate the bottoms of 
ditches and depressions. Numbers and contour Unes indicate the 
height of the land above the sea.) 

1. Badbury Rings — Of the five principal Hill-top camps within the 
district of my survey — Hod, Hambledon, Castle Ditches, Tisbury, 
Whitsbury Castle Ditches, and Badbury Rings — the last stands lowest 
above the sea ; yet Badbury Rings are so isolated, and are situated in 
such a spacious tract of lowland, that their pine-crowned summit of 
327 feet tells as a landmark for miles around — a distinction that Castle 
Ditches, Tisbury, miss, though this latter camp area rises to 630 feet — 
7 feet higher than Hambledon. 

Badbury Rings may serve as a fine specimen of a Hill-top Camp. 
They have been described in the Dorset Field Club Proceedings, 
Vol. XXVII., and in " Ancient Dorset," by Charles Warne. So far as 
I know, their varied occupation has not been proved by excavation, 
but their origin is generally accepted as Celtic. They are surrounded 
by a triple ring of great banks and ditches. There is a wide space 
between the outer and middle earthworks. The Eastern entrance is a 
straight-forward passage through the three lines of defence. There 
are two entrances on the Western side. One, like the Eastern, straight- 
forward, the other winding through the berm defence of the middle 
bank. It seems possible, in view of Mr. and Mrs. Cunnington's 
excavations on Knapp Hill, that the straight-forward Western entrance 
may be original, used for driving cattle in times of danger, and the 
entrance gaps then stockaded. The earthworks of the Rings do not 
show any signs of Roman adaptation, though the site must have been 
occupied by the Romans, for three of their roads converge here. 
Probably this was the site of " Mens Badonicus," see " Origines 
CeUicce," Vol. II., p. 147, by Dr. Guest. The wasted earthwork 
outside the Rings on the Western side do not seem to have any 
intelligible connection with the camp defences. 

2. Buzbury Rings are about two miles distant from Blandford and 
the Upland road, thence to Wimborne, passes through the outer part 
of the camp. The inner camp appears to have been the place of 
habitation, and here you may pick up in half an hour more pottery 
shards than your pockets will hold. The outer camp extends on the 
Northern and Eastern sides of this inner camp, and shows no sign of 
habitation, but was probably used for pastoral purposes. Buzbury 
Rings have been cut about by road-makers and by cultivators, but their 
general disposition are still fairly discernible. The camp shows no signs 



40 ANCIENT EARTHWORKS OF CRANBORNE CHASE, 

of having been strengthened, and its broad-topped low banks (six foot 
average height) and shallow ditches give us an idea of an Early British 
Tribal camp that combined safety with pastoral requirements. Many 
of the pottery shards to be found in the inner area are of the Early 
British type, hand-made, imperfectly baked, and made of clay mixed 
with siliceous granules. Banks and ditches of the Grims-Ditch type 
branch out from Buzbury Rings. The O.S. marks one that approaches 
the Rings from Langton Long as " suj^posed British Trackway ; " but 
its superficial measurements compare with Grims-Ditch, through which 
I have cut sections on Damerham Knoll and on Gallows Hill, and in 
both these cases the bottom of the ditch was 4 feet 6 inches below the 
surface and only a foot wide, with steep sides, showing no signs of use ; 
indeed, it would be impossible to use such a ditch as a way. These 
Banks and Ditches appear to be boundary divisions for pastoral 
purposes. Similar branching of such earthworks from a centre of 
habitation may be noted on Blandford Race Down, South Tarrant 
Hinton Down, Gussage Down, Middle Chase Farm, and Whitsbury 
Castle Ditches. 

3. The British Settlement on South Tarrant Hinton Down is 
specially interesting. Here are two oval enclosures, surrounded by 
low earthworks — the outside banks never rise above 4 feet — that are 
separated from each other by a shallow down valley in which jDre- 
sumably the water came out when these enclosures were made. 

The upper enclosure shows no superficial signs of ancient habitation, 
but there is a sunken way leading down to the little valley that suggests 
cattle usage. It should be noted that outside the entrance on the 
Eastern side are the wasted remains of two detached banks that appear 
to be defences covering the opening, and that the Northern enclosure 
bank (the Southern has been destroyed) widens into a pear shape at 
the entrance — a form that often occurs at camp entrances. The 
all-over measurements of the bank and ditch show, however, that this 
can never have been a camp of much account, and I am inclined to 
regard it as a pastoral enclosure with slight defences. 

The lower enclosure is the larger of the two, and the area is covered 
with humps and hollows that suggest habitation. The entrance is on 
the South-Eastern side. On the North-Eastern side there is a semi- 
circular depression strongly banked, and approached from the area by 
a sunken way. This compares with somewhat sinailar earthwork 
forms on Tarrant Hinton Down (near Eastbury Park), Chettle Down, 
and Swallow-Cliffe Down. Their purpose could only be conjectured 
by excavation. Two large mounds may be barrows. The duplication 
of the single bank and ditch — which for the most part surround their 
enclosure — on the South-Western and lowest side of the site is another 
puzzle that needs solution. A ditch between dovible banks (of the 



ANCIENT EARTHWORKS OF CRANBORNE CHASE. 41 

Grims-Ditch type) starts from this South-Western side and can be 
traced for some distance over the hill towards Pimperne. 

4. Knowlton— It is doubtful whether Knowlton was within the 
ancient outbounds of Cranborne Chase. The place names of the 
Perambulation are dubious here. But we may take the benefit of the 
doubt, for benefit it is, as it enables us to consider a most remarkable 
site. Nowhere else on Cranborne Chase, excepting in barrows, and 
specially in the disc barrows near Woodyates, do we find any earthwork 
exjaression of what is supposed to be prehistoric formular religion. 
Circles, either marked by stones or wrought in earth, are signs of the 
unknown reverence of our forefathers. Here, et Knowlton, we have 
four circular earthworks, only one of which, however, is still fairly 
perfect — the others have been destroyed by cultivation. From the 
remnant that remains we cannot suppose that purposes of defence or 
of habitation, or of cattle enclosure, were the motives of the makers of 
these rings. The two apparently original entrances of the one perfect 
remaining circle are opposite each other. The wide ditch is on the 
inside. The bank is unusually broad and precise in its circle. There 
are no other earthworks of similar construction on Cranborne Chase, 
but in certain particulars they compare with the Rings at Thornborough 
Moor, near Ripen, and with Figsbury Ring near Salisbury (see " Earth- 
work of England," by Hadrian Allcroft). Within the area of this 
earthen circle stands the ivy-clad ruin of a little stone church. With- 
out, these Knowlton circles are surrounded by barrows ; but this site 
does not now appear as the barrow centre of the district, as Stonehenge 
is the barrow centre of Salisbviry Plain. That distinction belongs to 
Oakley Down, below Pentridge, near Worbarrow, that was excavated 
by General Pitt Rivers. 



m 




^ Hcminisccncc of 
ri)c late V^c\). C UX, I). Didvcr, l^.T)., 

(With Plates), 

3inti some ObscvlJittions on 61oxU)ortl) 



By the Rev. 0. PICKARD-CAMBRIDGE, M.A., F.R.S. 




CANNOT suppose that the following few lines 
will be otherwise than acceptable to the 
members of our Field Club, the more 
especially as they relate to, probably, the 
last that our lamented member, the 
Rev. C. W. H. Dicker, ever did or wrote 
in connection with any work on our behalf. 
In order to make this intelligible to you, 
I must premise that Mr. Dicker (in his paper on " The Normans 
of Dorset," Dors. Field Club Proceedings, Vol. XXXI., 1910, 
p. 125) mentions that " Norman Porches are very rare ; I 
only know of three in Dorset — Sherborne, Bloxworth, and 
Belchalwell." I wrote at once to Mr. Dicker that this was 
evidently a mistake so far as Bloxworth was concerned, where 
the church porch certainly was not Norman. In the short 



31 Reminiscence of 
m)c UiU 3^c\). C UL I). Dicker, B.D., 

(With Plates), 

^nt\ some Obserliations on tSJoxiuortl) 
Cl)urcl^ 



By the Rev. 0. PICKARD-CAMBRIDGE, M.A., F.R.S. 




CANNOT suppose that the following few lines 
will be otherwise than acceptable to the 
members of our Field Club, the more 
especially as thej^ relate to, probably, the 
last that our lamented member, the 
Rev. C. W. H. Dicker, ever did or wrote 
in connection with any work on our behalf. 
In order to make this intelligible to you, 
I must premise that Mr. Dicker (in his paper on " The Normans 
of Dorset," Dors. Field Club Proceedings, Vol. XXXI., 1910, 
p. 125) mentions that " Norman Porches are very rare ; I 
only know of three in Dorset — Sherborne, Bloxworth, and 
Belchalwell." I Avrote at once to Mr. Dicker that this was 
evidently a mistake so far as Bloxworth was concerned, where 
the church porch certainly was not Norman. In the short 



ProcDcrsH.NHiA F CUk. U XXXIV. 



^^T^' 





.S ,r-^-^J. 




Height (in clear). 7 ft. 
Width ,. 4 ft. 



BLOXWORTH CHURCH. 

DOORWAY AND FONT. 



Height from Base. 3 ft. 2 ins. 



THE LATE REV. C. W. H. DICKER, R.D. 43 

correspondence that ensued Mr. Dicker acknowledged that 
he had not himself visited the church, and had been mis- 
informed ; but that he would shortly pay me a visit and 
inspect the church himself.* 

Time went on, one thing and another delayed Mr. Dicker's 
kind intention, until in the afternoon of Thursday, August 
22nd last, he paid me his long-promised visit (in company 
with the Rev. A. L. Helps, Vicar of Puddletown). I was 
unable to accompany him to my church, but he made a close 
and thorough inspection of it under the guidance of one of 
my sons. He had no time to give me a report on it at the 
moment ; but on the following morning {Friday, August 23rd) 
wrote to me the result of his examination of several points of 
interest, including the Norman doorway. Saturday and 
Sunday, August 24th and 25th, intervened ; and then early 
on Monday, August 26th, the sudden and lamentable 
catastrophe occurred in which we have to mourn his 
irreparable loss. 

I feel sure that no one of us will under the circumstances 
object to enter into a little detail of what thus occupied 
Mr. Dicker's last scientific consideration. I therefore make 
no apology for quoting, almost verbatim, his letter to me, 
dated August 23rd, 1912. " Dear Mr. Pickard-Cambridge,— 
" I was much interested in your church, and am very glad to 
" have seen it. The porch is particularly a good bit of 
" Jacobean building ; the architect has adopted a nice 14th 
" Century moulding in the outer arch — probably a copy of 
" work in the older building. I am not sure that the lower 
" stones of the jambs are not part of the original. The 
" doorway is much more like a Norman Chancel Arch than a 



* Mr. Dicker appears to have been unaware that the Field Ckib paid 
me a visit on Avig. 19th, 1886, when I pointed out that " the only 
remaining portion of an original Norman Church was the Doorway." 
See report of F. Club Proc, Vol. VII., p xxiv., 1886 ; also that in a 
paper on Bloxworth Church read at the meeting above mentioned and 
published Vol. VII., p. 99, this doorway is again remarked upon. 



44 THE LATE REV. C. W. H. DICKER, R.D. 

" door arch. The doors one finds in village churches of the 
" 12th Century are very much narrower, and the imposts 
" (with ' nail-head ' ornament) look exactly like those oi a 
" tj^pical chancel arch of the period. I have seen some 
" chancel arches about that width, though now removed from 
" their old position. 

" The Font seems to me a piece of undoubted Early English 
" Avork. Its bit of foliage and mouldings are quite of the 
" Early 13th Century style. It is not mentioned in Dr. 
" Cox's list of Dorset Fonts. — With kind regards, yours very 
" truly, C. W. H. Dicker." 

The above, then, being the subject A\hich so immediately 
preceded Mr. Dicker's untimely decease, has, I think, a 
melancholy though real interest for us all ; I therefore 
presume to make a few remarks upon it. It Avill be noted 
that the idea of Bloxworth Church Porch being Norman is 
quite given up ; and whether the opinion that the architect 
of it adopted, in his design, the course Mr. Dicker mentions, I 
must leave to experts ; but I must remark that there is no 
proof of there ever having been a porch to the original Norman 
building. The opinion that the " doorway " (which is 
undoubtedly Norman) is the Chancel Arch of the original 
Norman church I am hardly qualified to criticise. It would 
have been most interesting and useful to us if Mr. Dicker had 
added to his note upon this point the names of the churches 
where he had seen some similar arches removed from their 
original positions, and so become " doorways." I have noted 
on the plate accompanying this paper the exact dimensions 
of the doorway as it now stands. My own opinion is certainly 
against the idea that it formed the chancel-arch of the original 
church. 

With respect to Mr. Dicker's opinion that the Font is an 
undoubted " Early English " work, I cannot say that I am 
convinced upon this point. I have always thought it to be 
partly Jacobean, mixed with some of the materials of an 
original Norman Font ; but I do not profess to be an expert 
on such points. I will only say that the Font has been 



THE LATE REV. C. W. H. DICKER, R.D. 45 

examined by more than one who have professed to be experts, 
and they have invariably been doubtful. Perhaps what I 
have said above maj' lead some one of our members competent 
to give an opinion (and assisted by Mr. Dicker's remarks as 
well as the sketch I have given of the Font as it stands) to let 
us know more about it, and to confirm or otherwise the 
opinion that the " doorway " is the chancel-arch of the 
original Norman building. 




^ccont) Supplement to tl)c 
Ecpiticiptera of tljc £slc of ^urlicck. 



Compiled from the Notes of Eustace R. Bankes, 

M.A., F.E.S., 

By NELSON M. RICHARDSON, B.A. 




j -.-ye^ai^g 



FiWING to the unfortunate illness of 

friend, Mr. Eustace Bankes, I have been 



my 



asked to edit the valuable notes made by 
him on the additions to the Lepidoptera of 
the Isle of Purbeck since the publication of 
the 1st Supplement in Vol. X. of the Pro- 
ceedings of the Dorset Field Club (1889), 
the original list being contained in Vol. VI. 
of the same Proceedings (1885). The notes from which the 
present list is made carry on the records to the end of 1910, 
the last entry being dated Nov. 27th, 1910. The bulk of the 
captures were made by Mr. Bankes himself, and where he 
has had to depend on those made by others, he has always 
either identified the species himself or relied upon some 
recognised authority for its correctness. Amongst the 
insects in the present list are some of great or considerable 
rarity, such as Vanessa antiopa, Sterrha sacraria, Notodonta 



LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 47 

trepida, Leucania vitellina, L. albipuncta, L. extranea, Micra 
parva, Catocala electa, Lemiodes pulveralis, Epischnia bankes- 
iella, Simcethis vibrana, Eupoecilia manniana, Tinea richard- 
soni, Micropteryx aruncella (probably merely a variety of M. 
seppella), Yponomeuta rorellus, Argyresthia atmoriella, Litlio- 
colletis triguttella (Mr. Bankes brings evidence to prove this 
to be merely a variety of L. faginella), Nepticula fulgens, N. 
conjusella, Trifurcula pallidella, besides other interesting 
species. Altogether, no less than 171 species are now added 
to the list, which swells the number found in Purbeck (after 
allowing for all corrections) to the very large total of 1,197, 
an extraordinarily rich Lepidopterous fauna for so small a 
tract, which it probably owes to the varied nature of the land 
comprised in it. Heath and bog, sand-hills and salt marshes, 
woods and downs, fertile fields and rocky cliffs and sea-shore 
are all found, and each contributes the different species that 
inhabit it. 

A few corrections of previous lists and records are necessary. 
In Entomologist XXX., Ill (1897), Hesperia paniscus and 
Sesia muscceformis were recorded from Swanage by Mr. J. H. 
Fowler, but in Entom. XXXII., 309 (1899), he withdrew both 
records. Although he could not say what the supposed 
H. paniscus of his informant could have been, it is quite 
incredible that it could have been H. paniscus, unless 
proved indubitably by the production of the specimen. A 
list of Delenda et corrigenda in the first List of Purbeck 
Lepidoptera and the first supplement, a few of which 
have already been noticed in the first supplement, is here 
appended. 

Delenda et Corrigenda. 

Lepidoptera of the Isle of Purbeck. (Proc. D.F.C., 
Vol. VI., pp. 128—177.) 

p. 141. Delete " Eupithecia minutata, G., Corfe." 
p. 147. 1. 4 and 12, for " about the year 1845 " read " in 
the year 1844." 



48 LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 

p. 148. 1. 23, 24, and 37, for " about the year 1845 by Sir 
Frederick Lighton " read " in the year 1844 
by Sir Christopher Lighton." 

p. 158. For "' Phycis subornatella, Z." read " Phycis 
ADORN ATELLA, D." See note under the 
latter species in 1st Supplement (Proc. D.F.C., 
X., 202.) 
,, For "Phycis abietella, S.V.'" read "Phycis 

SPLENDIDELLA, H.-S." See note under the 
latter species in the present supplementary 
list. 

p. 160. For " Penthina sororculana, Ztt.'' read " Pen- 
thina BETUL^gETANA, Hw." Merrin, in his 
list, which was followed, erroneously enters 
hetulcetana, Hw., under the name sororculana, 
Ztt., which should stand for Avhat Merrin calls 
prcelongana, G. 

p. 163. For " Retinia pinicolana, Dh.'' read " Retinia 
BUOLIANA, S.V." The former species, which 
had not been found in Purbeck until the 
date of its record (1901) in the present 
supplementary list, was inserted by mistake 
for the latter species. (See also 1st Supple- 
mentary List, Proc. D.F.C., X., 204.) 
,, For " Carpocapsa gross an a, Hw.'' read " Car- 

POCAPSA SPLENDANA, H." The former spccics, 
which has not yet been found in Purbeck, 
was recorded by mistake for the latter. 

p. 166. Delete " Yponomeuta plumbella, /S.F., Studland. 
The grey var. of Y. padella, L. was mistaken 
for this species, which was not found in 
Purbeck until 1891, as recorded in the present 
Supplementary List. 

p. 167. Delete " Depressaria propinquella, Tr., Stud- 
land, Corfe ; rare." The entry was made on 
the strength of specimens taken b}^ Rev. 
C. R. Digby and E.R.B., which have since 



LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 49 

turned out to be merely forms of subpro- 
pinquella, Stn., and both the captors were 
in 1894 sure that they had never taken 
propinquella, Tr. in Purbeck or anywhere 
in Dorset. Neither is it recorded from 
Purbeck in the present Supplementary List. 
p. 167. Delete " Corfe " as a locality for Dbpeessaria 

ALBIPUNCTELLA, H. 

p. 168. For " Gelechia nanella, H." read " Gelechia 
ALBiCAPiTELLA, Z." The former species has 
not yet occurred in Purbeck. (See 1st Supple- 
mentary List, Proc, D.F.C., X., 208.) 

p. 174. 1. 14. For " on Ulex." read, in a fresh line, " Litho- 
colletis messaniella, Z., Corfe, Studland, 
on Ilex. (See 1st Supplementary List, Proc. 
D.F.C., X., 212.) 
,, Delete " Lithocolletis emberiz^pbnnella, Bou., 
common among honeysuckle." This was 
entered by Rev. C. R. Digby, who afterwards 
found that L. trijasciella, Hw., had been 
mistaken for it. It has not yet occurred in 
Purbeck. 

p. 175. Delete " Nepticula ulmivorella, Frr., Studland." 
This species has not yet occurred in Purbeck. 

p. 176. 1. 7 and 8 from bottom, delete " with the exception 
of P. Globularise," and the whole of the 
bottom 6 lines referring to that species. 
(Note by E.R.B.) In the " Lepidoptera 
of Dorsetshire " Mr. C. W. Dale says 
" A specimen in my collection was taken 
at Langton Matravers in 1853, by Dalton 
Serrel (Serrell), Esq." If this moth has 
been rightly identified as globularice, this is 
the only instance known of the occur- 
rence of this species outside the counties 
of Kent and Sussex, and is therefore very 
remarkable. [Although Mr. E. R. Bankes 



50 LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 

admitted this record into his list, he thought 
on further consideration that it should be 
omitted as being too doubtful. I agree with 
him in this view, as the identification of the 
species of this genus is somewhat difficult. — 
N. M. Richardson.] 

First Supplement to the " Lepidoptera of the Isle of 
PuRBECK." Proc, D.F.C., X., 197-213. 

p. 200. Delete Bombycoid.^. Acronycta, Tr. Acronycta 
tridens, S.V., Corfe. E.R.B. says that this 
Avas entered on the strength of specimens 
taken by him which he had thought to be 
A. tridens, but which he has since identified 
as only A. psi. 

p. 205. Delete " Dicrorampha Saturnana, G., Kimmeridge 
coast." 
,, 1.8, 9. For " one specimen, which has been identified 
by Mr. Warren as this rare species, was taken 
by the author on June 16th, 1884 " read 
" four specimens, of which one alone was 
identified by Mr. Warren as this rare species, 
were taken by the author on June 16th, 
1884, and many others since." 
,, Delete " Dicrorampha Tanaceti, Wlk., Kimmeridge 
Coast." 

p. 208. Delete " Gelechia Artemisiella, Tr., Swanage coast ; 
occasionally taken on the downs." The 
specimens on which the entry was made 
were merely forms (caught) of G. anthyllidella 
(recorded Proc, D.F.C., VL, 169) and both 
E.R.B. and Rev. C. R. Digby are quite sure 
that they have never taken G. artemisiella 
in Purbeck. 
For " Gelechia Affinella, Hw." read " Gelechia 
Similis, Dgl." This entry was made on the 



LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 51 

authority of Rev. C. R. Digby, but E.R.B. 
has carefulJy examined all the specimens 
(now in coll. G. W. Bird) taken by him in 
Purbeck, and supposed to be affl^nella, Hw., 
and they are all undoubtedly similis, Dgl., 
as are aJl the specimens that E.R.B. has 
taken or bred himself in Purbeck. On his 
mentioning these facts (1894) to Rev. 
C. R. Digby, he said that he had no doubt 
that the correction was right. 

p. 209. For " Gelechia Ligulella, Z.," read •' Gelechia 
Vorticella, Z." See under Gelechia vorti- 
CELLA, Z., in the present 2nd supplementary 
list. 

p. 213. For " Nepticula Gratiosella, Stn.," read " Nepticula 
Ignobilella, Stn." 

The nomenclature adopted in the first list and the first 
supplement is that of Merrin's Lepidopterist's Calendar 
(1875), and the present being only a second supplement 
and not a new list, I have thought it best, to prevent 
confusion, to use the same nomenclature, placing Avithin 
brackets any synonyms which have been shewn to have prior 
claims, and which are more generally used at the present 
time. Where Mr. Eustace R. Bankes' name occurs as the 
authority for a capture or otherwise in the notes, it is 
designated for convenience by the initials (E.R.B.) ; other 
captors' names are given in full. A list of abbreviations 
used for the names of the authors of the descriptions of 
the various species is appended. 

The Author's names with the abbreviations used are as 
follows : — Auct. Angl. Auctorum Anglicorum ; B. Boisduval ; 
Ba. Barrett ; Ben. Bentley ; Bk. Borkhausen ; Bnks. 
Bankes ; Bou. Bouche ; Br. Bruand ; C. Curtis ; Clms, 
Clemens ; D. Duponchel ; Dh. Doubleday ; Dg. Douglas ; 
Drt. Durrant ; Dyar, Dyar ; E. Esper ; F. Fabricius ; Fisch. 
Dr. F. Fischer ; F.R. Fischer E. von Roslerstamra ; Frey. 



52 LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 

Frey ; Frr. Freyer ; Fro. Frolich ; G. Guenee ; H. Hiibner ; 
Hein. Heinemann ; Hey. Heyden ; Hf. Hufnagel ; Hrng. 
Hering ; H.-S. Herrick-Schaffer ; HtcJi. Hatchett ; Hw. 
Haworth ; L. Linne ; Lch. Leach ; Lnig. Lienig ; Ls. 
Laspeyres ; Lt. Latreille ; M. Mann ; Merrin, Merrin ; 0. 
Ochsenheimer ; Rdsn. Richardson ; Rtz. Ratzeburg ; 8. 
Scopoli ; Scfiiff. Schiffermiller ; S.V. Systematisches 
Verzeichniss der Weines Gegend ; Sax. Saxesen ; Ss. Stephens ; 
Stdgr. Staudinger ; Stn. Stamton ; Thnh. Thunberg ; Thrfl. 
Threlfall ; Tr. Treitsche ; Tutt, Tutt ; Va. Vaughan ; \Yood, 
Dr. J. H. Wood ; Wk. Wocke ; Wlsm. Walsingham ; Z. 
Zeller ; Zk. Zmcken. 

In Mr. E. R. Bankes' notes, Corfe Castle is sometimes 
written in full, but generally designated as Corfe. It is 
always alluded to as " Corfe " in the folloAving list for the 
sake of brevity : — 

DIURNI. 

VANESSID^. 
Argynnis, F. 
Argynnis adippe, L. Swanage ; one taken by Mr. S. W. 
Kemp in Aug., 1899, and recorded in Entom., 
XXXII., p 260. 

Vanessa, F. 
Vanessa antiopa, L. SAvanage ; a specimen was seen 
flying along the road about half-way between 
Swanage and Studland by Mr. Arthur W. 
Geffcken at about 1.45 p.m. on June 1, 1892. 
As Mr. Geffcken was driving at the time he 
could not capture the insect, but had an 
excellent view of it as it flew towards him, 
and then, when quite close, turned to the 
left over some bushes : he knows the species 
thoroughly well, having seen and taken it 
commonly both on the Continent and in the 
United States, and feels sure of its identity. 



LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 53 

NOCTURNI. 
SPHINGID^. 
Macroglossa, 
Macroglossa bombyliformis, 0. (Hemaris tityus, L.). 
Corfe ; one was taken at Rhododendron 
flowers in the garden at Norden House, by 
E.R.B. on June 4, 1906. 

ZENZERID^. 

Zenzera, Lt. 
Zenzera yESCULi, L. (Zeuzera pyrina, L.). Swanage ; a 
full-fed larva was found under a sod, close 
to some elm trees near Whitecliff Farm, on 
May 26, 1910, by Mr. Leonard Tatchell. 

LIPARID^. 

LiPARIS, 0. 

LiPARis CHRYSORRHEA, L. Swanage ; one male was taken at 
light by Mr. E. B. Nevinson on July 9, 1894. 
The specimen has been seen by E.R.B. 

GEOMETR/E. 

AMPHIDASYD^. 

Phigalia, D. 

Phigalia pilosaria, S.V. (pedaria, F.). Corfe; one 

male tak a at rest on the front wall of the 

Rectory by E.R.B. on Feb. 22, 1896. 

Amphidasis, Tr. 
Amphidasis prodromaria, S.V. (STRATARIA, ///.). Corfe ; 
a male was taken at light by E.R.B. on 
Ap. 17, 1895. 

BOARMID^. 

BOARMIA, Tr. 

BoARMiA ABiETARiA, S.V. Corfe ; one taken by E.R.B. on 
July 23, 1902, and one by Mr. F. J. Han- 
bury on Aug. 2, 1902. A few others taken 
there since by E.R.B. 



54 LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 

BoARMiA ciNCTARiA, S. V. Rempstone ; taken not uncom- 
monly on Scotch fir trunks in the middle of 
Bushey Heath Plantation by E.R.B. in May, 
1891. 

Tephrosia, B. 
Tephrosia biundularia, E. Rempstone ; one taken by 
E.R.B. on May 12, 1890. 
„ punctulata, S.V. Holme ; one taken at rest 

by E.R.B. on May 15, 1901. 

GEOMETRID^. 
Phorodesma, B. 
Phorodesma baiularia, S.V. (PUSTULATA, Hf.). Corfe ; 
two taken by E.R.B. on July 17, 1902. 

ACIDALID^. 

EUPISTERIA, B. 
EUPISTERIA HEPARATA, S.V. (OBLITERATA, Hf.) Corfe ; One 

taken by E.R.B. on July 18, 1902. 

ACIDALIA, Tr. 
AciDALiA INORNATA, Hiv. Studland ; a fine specimen taken 
on Studland Heath by E.R.B. on July 16, 
1891. 

FIDONID^. 

NUMERIA, D. 

NuMERiA PULVERARIA, L. Creech Grange ; one taken by 
E.R.B. in the " big wood " on June 12, 1891. 

Sterrha, H. 
Sterrha sacraria, L. Corfe ; a fine male specimen was 
taken in a stubble field at Corfe by E.R.B. 
on Sept. 7, 1895 (vide Ent. Mo. Mag. Ser. 2, 
VII. 19). Another beautiful male specimen 
w^as taken in a grass meadow at Corfe (the 
next field but one to that wherein the other 
was taken, and only about 200 or 250 yards 
from the actual spot !) by E.R.B. on Sept. 6, 



LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 55 

1905 — just 10 years almost to the very day 
since the previous one was secured. 

LARENTID.E. 

Oporabia, Ss. 
Oporabia autumnaria, G. Corfe ; one was taken at 
rest on a birch trunk by E.R.B. on Nov. 7, 
1901. [Positively identified as this species 
by Mr. L. B. Prout, the highest authority 
on this difficult genus.] 

EUPITHECIA, C. 

EuPiTHECiA LARiciATA, Frr. Corfe ; taken among larch in 
Norden new plantation, by E.R.B., in June, 
1901. 

,, IRRIGUATA, H. Corfe ; a splendid specimen 

seen in the Rectory copse by E.R.B. on Ap. 24, 
1893. It was first noticed on the wing, when 
it could not be identified ; but it then settled, 
where a grand view of it was obtained ; but 
it was not secured, owing to a pill box only 
and no net being available. 

,, ASSIMILATA, Db. Corfe ; one taken by E.R.B. 

on Aug. 9, 1906. 

,, SOBRINATA, H. Rempstone Heath ; several 

taken by E.R.B. among juniper growing in a 
fir wood in Aug., 1889. 

COLLIX, G. 

CoLLix SPARSATA, H. Corfe ; one (much worn, but identity? 
certain) was taken amongst Lysimachia 
vulgaris by E.R.B. on July 29, 1901 (a 
remarkably late date !), and another on July 
12, 1902. 

Thera, 8s. 

Thera firmata, H. Corfe ; one (identified by E.R.B.) was 
taken by Mr. P. Helps at Norden in 1899 ; 
one taken by E.R.B., also at Norden, on 
July 19, 1902 ; and others since. Uncommon. 



56 LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 

CiDARIA, Tr. 
CiDARiA siLACEATA, S. V. Corfe ; one taken at rest in the 
Rectory shrubbery by Rev. C. R. Digby on 
Aug. 25, 1893. 

DREPANUL^. 

DREPANULID^. 

Platypteryx, Ls. 

Platypteryx hamula, 8. V. Corfe ; one beaten from Alder 

(oak growing near) by E.R.B. in " Scotland " 

rough field on June 10, 1891. 

PSEUDO-BOiMBYCES. 
NOTODONTID^. 

NOTODONTA, 0. 

NoTODONTA trepida, E. Corfe ; a young larva was found 
on oak on July 4, 1905. [Owing to its being 
sickly it was preserved in spirits of wine.] 

NOCTU.'E. 

BOMBYCOID^. 
ACRONYCTA, Tr. 
AcRONYCTA leporina, L. Corfe ; two bred from birch, 
June 20 and 25, 1902, by E.R.B. One has 
been taken at Studland by Mr. L. W. Bristowe. 

LEUCANID^. 
Leucania, Tr. 
Leucania vitellina, H. Swan age ; two specimens were 
taken at sugar, above Durlston Bay, by Mr. 
Arthur Rose, in 1900. Studland ; several 
taken by Messrs. Rippon and Tautz in 1908. 
,, TURCA, L. Swanage ; four specimens were taken 
on the wing by Mr. W. Edwards on July 11, 
1903. 



LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 57 

Lbucania albipuncta, S.V. Swanage ; one specimen was 
taken " on ragwort flowers in a rough field 
between the Waterworks and stone quarries," 
by Mr. A. U. Battley, early in Sep., 1901. 
Studland ; four were taken by Mr. P. H. 
Tautz in Aug., 1908. 

,, EXTRANEA, G. (uNiPUNCTA, Hw.). Corfe ; a fine 
specimen taken at sugar in the Rectory 
shrubbery on Oct. 12, 1891. 

,, STRAMINEA, Tr. Studland ; one was taken at 
sugar by Mr. Percy H. Tautz on Aug. 6, 1908. 
[The specimen has been seen by E.R.B.] 

Senta, Ss. 
Sent A ulv^, H. (maritima, Tausch.). Studland ; one was 
taken at light by Mr. P. H. Tautz on Aug. 11, 
1909. [The specimen has been seen by 
E.R.B.] 

NONAGRIA, 0. 

NoNAGRiA FULVA, H. Corfe ; one taken by E.R.B. on Sept, 
24, 1892. Studland ; two in 1908 (P. H. 
Tautz). 

,, GEMiNiPUNCTA, Htch. Swauagc Coast ; two 
specimens were bred on Aug. 4 and 11, 1895, 
by Mr. E. B. Nevinson from pupae found by 
him in stems of common reed {Arundo 
phragmites) in July. Studland ; the larva 
was found by E.R.B. and identified by him 
as this species on June 3, 1887 ; but the 
record was accidentally omitted from the 
previous lists of Purbeck Lepidoptera. 

,, TYPH^, E. Swanage Coast ; larvae and pupae 
found in stems of Typha lati folia by Messrs. 
B. G. and E. B. Nevinson and by E.R.B. in 
July, 1895 ; the moths emerged in the follow- 
ing month. Mr. E. B. Nevinson was the 
first to find it in Purbeck. 



58 LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 

APAMIDiE. 

Hydr^cia, G. 
Hydr^cia paludis, Tutt. Studland ; a few specimens 
were met with near South Haven by Mr. W. 
Parkinson Curtis in Aug., 1908. Getting it 
plentifully at Poole, he, however, only 
troubled to take one of them. 

Aporophyla, G. 
Aporophyla australis, B. Swanage ; taken at ivy bloom 
by Mr. A. B. Farn in Sep., 1893 ; also by 
Mr. S. W. Kemp in 1899 (Entom. xxxii., 260), 
and by Mr. A. U. Battley in Sep., 1901. 

Neuria, G. 
Neuria saponari/E, Bk. (Heliophobus reticulata, Vill.) 
Swanage ; one Avas taken on Ballard Down 
by Mr. W. Parkinson Curtis on July 4, 1905. 

Apamea, 0. 
Apamea fibrosa, H. (leucostigma, H.) Studland ; one 
was taken at sugar by Mr. P. H. Tautz on 
Aug. 29, 1909. The specimen has been seen 
by E.R.B. 

MlANA, Ss. 

MiANA FURUNCULA, aS.F. Corfe ; Swanage; &c. ; Common 
(E.R.B. ). 
,, ARCUOSA, Hiv. Corfe ; one taken on the wing at 
dusk by E.R.B. on July 15, 1890, and others 
since. 

CARADRINID^. 

Caradrina, Tr. 
Caradrina alsines, Bk. Corfe ; (E.R.B.). Swanage ; 
(E.R.B.). Examples of this species taken by 
E.R.B. both at Corfe and Swanage were 
found by him when sorting through his 
Caradrinidse in Jan., 1895. 



LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 50 

Caradrina ambigua, F. Studland ; one (identified by 
E.R.B.) was taken by Mr. Frederick White- 
head in Aug. or Sep., 1896. Swanage ; one 
(identified by E.R.B.) was taken by Mr. Percy 
M. Bright in 1892, and several at sugar and 
ragwort flowers by Mr. A. U. Battley in Sep., 
1901. Mr. W. Parkinson Curtis reports it as 
not uncommon in 1907 in this locality. 

NOCTUID^. 
Agrotis, 0. 
Agrotis obelisca, S.V. Studland; a few (one of which 
was seen by E.R.B.) were taken at sugar by 
Mr. Percy H. Tautz in 1907, and in each of 
the following years. 
,, AGATHINA, D. Studland ; one taken at light by 
Rev. C. R. Digby in 1890. Not new to the 
Purbeck list, but only previously recorded 
from there as occurring on Wareham Heath 
by Mr. C. W. Dale in his Lepidoptera of 
Dorsetshire. 

NOCTUA, L. 
NocTUA umbrosa, H. Studland ; about a dozen were taken 
at sugar by Mr. P. H. Tautz during Aug., 
1909, and a few in each of the two preceding 
years. 
,, baia, S.V. Corfe ; occasionally taken by E.R.B. 
It should have been included in the earlier 
supplement to the Purbeck list, as one, now in 
his series, was bred from Corfe by E.R.B. in 
1886, and another was taken there by him in 
1892. Others were taken by him in 1902. 

HADENID.E. 

Eremobia, Ss. 
Eremobia ochroleuca, S. V. Worth ; one boxed off a 
scabious flower by E.R.B. on Sep. 3, 1889. 



60 LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 

DlANTH^CIA, B. 

DiANTH^ciA cucuBALi, 8.V. Corfe ; a larva, certainly- 
belonging to this species, was found on seed- 
head of Lychnis flos-cucuU in Corfe Rectory 
Copse by E.R.B. in 1895. It fed well for 
some time, but died before pupation. An 
imago was taken at Corfe by Mr. Philip 
Helps in 1899. 

Dasypolia, G. 
Dasypolia templi, Thnh. Swanage Coast ; larvae found 
sparingly in stems and roots of Heradeum 
sphondylium by Mr. E. B. Nevinson and 
E.R.B. in July, 1895. The entire credit of 
the discovery is due to Mr. Nevinson. From 
the larvae then found, nine moths were bred, 
Sep. 13 — Oct. 8, by Mr. Nevinson, and two by 
E.R.B., a male on Sep. 26, and a female on 
Oct. 16, 1895. 

Epunda, D. 
Epunda lichenea, H. Swanage ; taken at ivy bloom by 
Mr. A. B. Earn in Sep., 1893, and taken and 
bred there since by Mr. G. Russell- Wright 
and E.R.B. 

Hadena, 0. 
Hadena protea, ^.F. Corfe; one taken at sugar by E.R.B. 

on Oct. 9, 1891, and several others since, 

including a specimen of var. variegata, Tutl, 

taken at sugar in the Rectory copse by 

E.R.B. on Sep. 28, 1892. 
,, suasa, S.V. Wych ; one taken flying over the 

salt marsh at dusk by E.R.B. on June 20, 

1892. 
,, GENiSTiE, Bk. Swanage ; one taken on Ballard 

Down by Mr. W. Parkinson Curtis on June 

16, 1907. 



LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 61 

XYLINID^. 

CUCULLIA, Sk. 
CucuLLiA CHAMOMiLL^, S. V. Studland ; 6 larvae, some of 
which produced moths in 1897, were found on 
and fed up on leaves of Matricaria inodora by 
E.R.B. on June 15, 1896. Corfe ; larvae 
found by E.R.B. in 1900. 

HELIOTHID.E. 
Heliothis, 0. 
Heliothis dipsacea, L. Studland ; in 1898 Mr. E. N. 
Blanchard, of Poole, shewed E.R.B. in his 
collection specimens taken by himself at 
Studland some years previously. Two taken 
there in 1909 by Mr. P. H. Tautz. 

ACONTIID^. 
AcoNTiA, Tr. 
AcoNTiA LUCTUOSA, 8 .Y . Corfe ; one was taken by E.R.B. 
on June 29, 1897. Swanage ; taken by Mr. 
S. W. Kemp in 1899 and several by E.R.B. in 
1906. 

ERASTRIID^. 

Erastria, Tr. 

Erastria fuscula, 8.V. Corfe; one taken by E.R.B. on 

July 12, 1902, and another by him on July 25, 

1905, and a few others since. 

ANTHOPHILID^. 

MiCRA, G. 

MiCRA PARVA, H. Wj'ch ; a specimen was taken within a 
foot of the very edge of the water of Poole 
Harbour by E.R.B. at about 6.0 p.m. on 
June 8, 1892. 

LIMBAT.^. 
Catocala, 0. 
Catocala electa, Bk. Corfe ; one taken in a '" trap " for 
wasps and flies inside the walled garden of the 



62 LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 

Rectory by E.R.B. on Sep. 12, 1892. The 
only other specimen ever taken in Britain 
was captured at sugar near Brighton by Mr. 
A. C. Vine on Sep. 24, 1875. 

PYRALIDES. 

HYDROCAMPIDvE. 
Cataclysta, H. 
Cataclysta LE3INALIS, L. Stoborough ; locally common in 
ditches in the water-weadows. (E.R.B.) 

BOTYD^. 

BOTYS, Lt. 

BoTYS LANCEALis, S.V. Corfe ; one taken by E.R.B. 
on July 15, 1895. 

Lemiodes, G. (Psammotis, H.) 
Lemiodes (Psammotis) pulveralis, H. Corfe ; one 
(identified by W. H. B. Fletcher and E.R.B.) 
rather worn specimen was taken at Norden 
by Master Rowley Helps in July or the 
beginning of August, 1899. Recorded in 
Ent. Mo. Mag. 2 Series, x., 289 (1899). A 
few were taken also at Norden, and doubtless 
in the same spot as R. Helps took it, by F. 
Capel Hanbury and E.R.B. in July — August, 
1901. 

CRAMBITES. 

CRAMBID.^. 

Crambijs, F. 
Crambus salinellus, Tutt. Studland ; a fine specimen 
(identified by E.R.B.) was taken by Mr. E. B. 
Nevinson in July, 1894. 

(Calamatropha, Z.) 
„ (Calamatropha) paludellus, H. Studland ; one 
(identified by E.R.B.) was taken at light on 



LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 63 

the heath by Mr. Percy H. Tautz on Aug. 
8, 1909. 

PHYCID^. 

HOMCEOSOMA, G. 

HoMCEOSOMA NEBULELLA, S.V. [H .) Swaiiage Coast; one 
was taken by E.R.B. on July 27, 1897. 
Corfe ; one was taken by E.R.B. on July 11, 
1902. Swanage ; one taken by Major R. B. 
Robertson in 1899. 

Epischnia, H. 
Epischnia bankesiella, Rclsn. Swanage Coast ; larvae of 
all sizes found rather plentifully in webs on 
Inula cnthtnoides in one spot on the Coastline 
by E.R.B., on May 24, 1898. The moths 
were successfully reared in due course. 
Recorded as new to Purbeck List in Ent. Mo. 
Mag. 2 Ser. x., 236 (1899). 

[Note by N. M. Richardson — This species 
probably occurs wherever Inula crithmoides 
is found on the coast, as I have met with it at 
Lulworth since its original discovery as 
a species new to science by Mrs. Richardson 
and myself at Portland. See Proc. D.F.C., 
X., 192 and plate, XV., 66, XVII., 173, 
XIX., 155, and plate of moth, larva, and 
mode of feeding.] 

Ephestia, G. 
Ephestia Kuehniella, Z. Corfe ; one was taken in Norden 
House (in a room where there had been no 
fire since the previous winter) by E.R.B. 
on Nov. 27, 1910. 
,, PiNGUis, Hw. Corfe ; a fine specimen was 

taken on Aug. 13, 1891, by Rev. C. R. Digby, 
who beat it from the E. hedge of the Rectory 
copse. 



64 lepidoptera of the isle of purbeck. 

Phycis, F. (Dioryctria, Z.) 

Phycis abietella, 8. v. (Dioryctria decuriella, H.) 
Studland ; a few have been taken at light by 
Rev. C. R. Digby. Corfe ; one was taken, 
by beating, bj^ F. Capel Hanbury, Esq., on 
June 28, 1901 {teste E.R.B.), and several by 
E.R.B. since. Note. — Phycis (Nephop- 
TERYx) splendidella, H.-S. (Dioryctria 

SPLENDIDELLA, ^.-;S'. = SYLVESTRELLA, Rtz.) 

Swanage Coast ; one specimen was taken by 
Rev. C. R. Digby in Punfield Cove in Aug., 
1879. There are no spruce firs or firs or 
pines of any sort Avithin a very long distance ; 
but this insect has several times occurred in 
equally unexpected places. (See Ent. Mo. 
Mag. 2nd ser. II., 221.) Mr. Digby's specimen 
has always been standing in his series Avith 
some genuine decuriella, H. { = abietella S.V.) 
of which he has taken a few at Studland ; but 
after a careful comparison of it with specimens 
of both these closely allied species, I have not 
the slightest hesitation in identifying it as 
the true splendidella H.-S. It is a decidedly 
larger insect than the other, and always has 
a noticeable reddish-brown patch (band) 
before the first line. [This is the specimen 
recorded in the original Purbeck list in Proc. 
D.F.C, VI., 158, as Phycis abietella, S.V., 
but the name abietella belongs to the smaller 
species.] 

Rhodophjea, G. 

Rhodoph^a advenella, Zk. Studland ; one beaten out of 
a hedge and secured by E.R.B. on July 28, 
1896. Corfe ; one, beaten from blackthorn, 
was taken by E.R.B. on Aug. 2, 1901. 



lepidoptera of the isle of purbeck. 65 

(acrobasis, z.) 
Rhodoph^a rubrotibiella, F.R. (Acrobasis tumidana, 
S.V.) Stiidland ; one was taken by Rev. F. 
H. Fisher on Aug. 7, 1904. 

TORTRICES. 
TORTRICID^. 

DiCHELIA, G. 

DiCHELiA Grotiana, F. Corfe ; one taken (at Norden by- 
beating) by F. Capel Hanbury, Esq., on 
July 28, 1901 {teste E.R.B.). New to Dorset 
List. Corfe ; one taken (near " Scotland 
Copse," beaten from oak) by E.R.B. on 
July 14, 1902. 

Peronea, C. 
Peronea sponsana, F. Corfe ; taken not uncommonly 
during some years past by E.R.B., and 
also bred by him from larvae found feeding 
on birch [Betula alba) at Corfe. The fact of 
its not being already in the Purbeck list has 
been overlooked till now. 

,, AUTUMN ANA, H. (rufana, ScJuff.) Corfe ; one 
specimen taken amongst Myrica gale in a 
bog on the heath by E.R.B. on Oct. 16, 1900. 

,, perplexana, Ba. Corfe ; taken sparingly in the 
Rectory Copse by E.R.B. in Aug., 1891. 

PENTHINID^. 
Penthina, Tr. 
Penthina picana. Fro. (corticana, H.) Corfe ; one taken 
among birch by E.R.B., June 25, 1902, and 
others since. 

SPILONOTIDiE. 
Spilonota, C. (Hedya, H.) 
Spilonota (Hedya) lariciana, Z. Corfe ; taken not un- 
commonly among larch by E.R.B. in July, 
1900. 



66 LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 

Spilonota aceriana, M. Swanage ; the larva found not 
uncommonly feeding in its characteristic way 
in shoots of 3'oung poplars in villa gardens by 
E.R.B. in June, 1891. 

SERICORID^. 

Sericoris, Tr. 
Sericoris bifasciana, Hw. Corfe ; taken plentifully 
amongst Pinus innaster by E.R.B. in July, 
1900. Also bred therefrom. 

MixoDiA, G. (P^DiscA, Tr.) 
Mixodia (P^disca) ratzeburghiana, Sax., Rtz. Corfe ; 
bred plentifully by E.R.B. in July from larvae 
in shoots of spruce fir collected in June, 1900. 

SCIAPHILID^. 

SCIAPHILA, Tr. 
SciAPHiLA CHRYSAXTHEANA, D. Swanage Coast ; taken by 
E.R.B. rarely. Corfe ; rare. (E.R.B.) 

GRAPHOLITHID^. 

P.EDISCA, Tr. 
P-SDISCA OPPRESSANA, Tr. Corfe ; one taken among Populus 
nigra by E.R.B. on June 23, 1900, and 
another by him on July 16, 1901. 
,, occuLTANA, D(j. (diniana, Gu.) Corfe ; one taken 
among larch by E.R.B. on July 20, 1901. 
New to Dorset List. 
,, SORDIDANA, H. (sTABiLANA, Ss.) Corfe ; taken 
commonty among alders by E.R.B. in 1902, 
also bred therefrom. 

Ephippiphora, G. 
Ephippiphora cirsiana, Z. (cnicicolana Z. 'I *) Swanage 
Coast ; taken not uncommonly in a damp 

* Note. — Mr. E. Meyrick, F.R.S., informs me that E. cnicicolana is a 
strictly South European form (Sicily to Dalmatia), very similar to 
cirsiana, but considerably smaller, with some slight differences of 
marking, perhaps of doubtful distinctness, from that variable species. 



LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 67 

hollow in the clay cliffs by Punfield Cove by 
E.R.B. on May 12, 1893. Kimmeridge Coast ; 
common. Feeds in roots of Inula dysenterica. 

EPHIPPIPHORA TRIGEMINANA, Ss. (= COSTIPUNCTANA, Hw. ?) 

Swanage Coast ; not uncommon among 
Senecio jacobcea on the steep rough cliff 
slopes. (E.R.B.) 

Coccyx, Tr. 
Coccyx splendidulana, G. Corfe ; one taken by E.R.B, 
on May 23, 1890. 
,, DiSTiNCTANA, Ben. Corfe ; a beautiful specimen 
was taken in the Rectory shrubbery by 
E.R.B. on June 2, 1892. 

Coccyx, Tr. (Steganoptycha, Ss.) 
Coccyx (Steganoptycha) subseqijana, Hw. Corfe ; three 
specimens were taken and about three others 
seen far out of reach, among spruce fir (at 
Kingston) by E.R.B. on May 19, 1908. The 
species was evidently almost over by this 
date, and is probably common in one fair- 
sized spruce fir at the right time ; the many 
other spruces in the same plantation were 
tried in vain, except for one small one that 
yielded a single individual. [Note by N. M. 
Richardson — I have found this species, which 
I took at Langton Herring, near Weymouth, 
in 1889 and subsequent years, more attached 
to silver fir than spruce, but never common. 
Proc. XI., 77, and Plate, fig. 5.] 

Retinia, G. 
Retinia pinicolana, Db. Corfe ; beaten not uncommonly 
from Scotch fir by E.R.B. in July, 1901, and 
since. (New to Dorset List.) The erroneous 
entry of this species in the original Purbeck 
List was corrected in the " Fu'st Supplement " 
to it. 



68 LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 

Retinia sylvestrana, C. Corfe ; a few were bred from 
male catkins of Pinus pinaster by E.R.B. in 
July, 1901, and others since. 

Opadia, G. 

Opadia funebrana, Tr. Corfe ; a full-fed larva found in a 
ripe greengage picked in the Rectory Garden 
on Aug. 19, 1898, and the traces of another 
soon afterwards which had fed inside a 
"golden-drop" plum. The moth emerged 
on July 3, 1899. 

Stigmonota, G. 

Stigmonota coniferana, Rtz. Rempstone ; 2 taken among 
Scotch fir in Bushey Heath plantation by 
E.R.B. on July 7, 1890. 

DiCRORAMPHA, G. 

DiCRORAMPHA ALPINANA, Tr. Studland ; 4 taken amongst 
tansy by E.R.B. on Aug. 4, 1894. 
„ SEQUANA, H. Corfe ; 2 taken in a rough 

pasture close to Blashenwell Farm by E.R.B. 
on June 15, 1891. v 

Catoptria, G. 

Catoptria albersana, H. Corfe ; 2 taken on the wing in 
the evening in Scotland rough field by E.R.B. 
on June 5, 1891. 

Trycheris, G. 

Trycheris mediana, S. V. Swanage ; one taken at rest by 
Rev. C. R. Digby on July 7, 1890, and others 
since. 



Note. — Carpocapsa splendana, H. Corfe ; occasionally met 
with. (Erroneously recorded as grossana, Hw., in " Lepidoptera of 
Purbeck," Proc. D.F.C., VI., 36.) 



LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 69 

PYRALOID^. 

SiMiETHIS, Lch. 

SiM^THis viBRANA, H. Corfe ; a single specimen of this 
great rarity was taken on the wing in a rough 
field of mixed herbage at about 6.15 p.m. on 
Sept. 14, 1889, by E.R.B. 

CONCHYLID^. 

EUPCECILIA, 8s. 

EuP(ECiLiA GEYERiANA, Auct. Augl. (nec. H.-S.) Corfe ; 
2 fine specimens taken, one on May 31, 1889, 
the other on Aug. 19, 1889, by E.R.B. on 
Scotland Heath bogs, have been identified by 
C. G. Barrett. Many have been taken in one 
heath bog since by E.R.B., who has also bred 
it from seed-pods of Menyanthes trijoliata 
(Bog-bean). (For description of larva by 
N. M. Richardson, and plate by Mrs. 
Richardson see Proc. D.F.C., XIII., 168.) 
,, MANNIANA, F.R. Corfe ; a specimen of this great 

rarity was taken, flying in the evening, in a 
bog on Scotland Heath by E.R.B. on June 
25, 1889. It has been duly identified by 
Mr. C. G. Barrett. 

Chrosis, G. 
Chrosis bifasciana, H. ( = AUDOUiNANA, Dp.). Corfe ; 
one, beaten out of spruce fir, was taken by 
E.R.B. on July 16, 1901, and others since. 

TINE/E. 
PSYCHID^. 

Psyche, Br. (Fumea, Hh.). 
Psyche (Fumea) intermediella, Br. Studland ; one 
specimen (a fine male) lately found and 
identified by E.R.B. among Rev. C. R. 



70 LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 

Digby's former captures (now in Coll. G. W. 
Bird). The specimen was taken by Rev. 
C, R. Digby at Studland on Aug. 1, 1885. 

TINEID^. 

Tinea, Stn. (Meessia). 
Tinea (Meessia) richardsoni, Wlsm. (vinculella, Rdsn.). 
Punfield Cove, near Swanage ; a nice specimen 
[recently (cir. 1896) found labelled X. argenti- 
maculella, in Coll. G. R. Bird, and identified by 
E.R.B. as T. richardsoni] was taken by Rev. 
C. R. Digby on a grass stem on July 8, 1882. 
Bred sparingly in 1896 and plentifully in 1897 
by E.R.B. from cases found on the underside 
of rocks and stones in the same locality. 
This species has hitherto been only recorded 
from Portland in 1891 and bred where it was 
discovered in 1894 by N. M. Richardson. 
(See Proc. D.F.C. XVI., 81, and figs, on 
plate by Mrs. Richardson. Also Ent. Mon. 
Mag. XXXI., 61, XXXVI., 176.) 

Tinea, Stn. (Monopis, Hb.) 
Tinea (Monopis) crocicapitella, Clms. ( = Lombardica. 
Hrng, = heringi, Rdsn. = hyalinella, Stdgr., 
= FERRUGiNELLA, Dyar, nee. H.). Studland ; 
taken rather commonly on dry, grassy banks 
near the sea at Southaven, &c., by Rev. C. 
R. Digby in and about 1889 and 1892. (See 
Ent. Mon. Mag. XLVIII., 39, and Plate.) 

Tinea, St7i. (Phylloporia, Hein.). 
Tinea (Phylloporia) bistrigella, Hw. Corfe ; one swept 
from birch in Norden plantation by E.R.B. 
on June 14, 1901. 

MiCROPTERYX, Z. 

MiCROPTERYX ARUNCELLA, ♦S'. Corfe ; taken in company 
with M. calthella and seppella by sweeping 



LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OP PURBECK. 71 

amongst Veronica chamcedrys, &c., in " Scot- 
land " rough field by E.R.B. in June, 1890. 
It is firmly believed by E.R.B. to be merely a 
variety of M. seppella. 
MiCROPTERYX SEMIPURPURELLA, Ss. Rempstone ; taken not 
uncommonly among the birch-trees in Goat- 
horn plantation by Rev. C. R. Digby and 
E.R.B. on April 19, 1892. Corfe ; by E.R.B. 

„ sANGii, Wood. Corfe ; on May 16-18, 1895, 

three undoubted larvae of this species were 
found by E.R.B. on birch in the Rectory 
shrubbery, and preserved in spirit of wine so 
that there may be no question of their 
identity, for the moths are sometimes 
inseparable from M. semipurpurella. 

„ KALTENBACHii, Stn. Corfe ; one taken in the 

Rectory Copse by E.R.B. on April 22, 1892, 
and a few more during the next few days. 

Adela, Lt. 
Adela rufimitrella, S. Corfe ; taken not uncommonly in 
Norden Copse by E.R.B. in May, 1901. 
,, VIRIDELLA, L. Creech Grange ; one taken by E.R.B. 
on May 25. 1900. Corfe ; one taken by 
E.R.B. on June 1, and another by him on 
June 3, 1901. Arne ; taken by E.R.B. 

YPONOMEUTIDiE. 

Yponomeuta, Lt. (Hyponomeuta, Z.). 
Yponomeuta (Hyponomeuta) plumbella, S.V. Corfe ; 
one taken by Rev. C. R. Digby on Aug. 13, 
1891. Locally common. (E.R.B.) [N.B.— 
This species was wrongly entered in the 
original Purbeck list, the specimen there 
recorded by Rev. C. R. Digby being the grey 
var. of Y. padella.] 
„ RORELLUS, Hb. Kimmeridge Coast ; one was 

taken by E.R.B. near Chapman's Pool, on 



72 LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 

July 26, 1895. In November, 1907, it was 
identified by E.R.B, with 4 other British 
specimens in his collection as certainly 
rorellus, Hb., which species was not then 
known to occur in the British Isles. 

PLUTELLID^. 

Ypsolopha, F. 
Ypsolopha sylvella, L. Corfe ; one taken on Aug. 13, 
1884, and another in 1893, both by E.R.B. 

GELECHID^. 
Depressaria, Hw. 
Depressaria bipunctosa, C. Corfe ; this obscure and very 
little known species has been taken sparingly 
on the wing at night, by E.R.B., in 1890 and 
following years in one old pasture field, where 
knaj)weed (C. nigra) and a variety of other 
such plants are plentiful. 
,, SCOPARIELLA, Hcin. Corfe ; a few were bred 

by E.R.B. in Aug., 1904. It appears to be 
not uncommon locally. 
„ HYPERiCELLA, H. Corfe ; bred from shoots of 

Hypericum by E.R.B. in July, 1890. 

* Gelechia, Stn. 
Gelechia celerella, Dg. (true). Studland ; a few specimens 
taken by Rev. C. R. Bigby and E.R.B. at 
Southaven on Aug. 18, 1890, and a good 
many by the latter since. 

Gelechia, Stn. (Bryotropha, Hein.) 
Gelechia (Bryotropha) tetragonella, Stn. Studland ; 
taken in fair numbers, flying in the salt 

* Note. — Gelechia (Anacampsis) vorticella, Z. Corfe ; three 
taken in the Bucknowle rough field amongst Genista tinctoria on 
July 13-15, 1891, by E.R.B. Identified as vorticella by Mr. H. T. 
Stainton. [N.B. — Vorticella was erroneously entered as ligulella in 
the First Supplement to the Purbeck List. Proc. D.F.C., X., 209.] 



LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 73 

marsh at Southaven in the evening, by Rev. 
C. R. Digby and E.R.B. on June 24-29, 
1892. 

Gelechia, 8tn. (Lita, Tr.). 
Gelechia (Lita) maculella, 8s. (maculea, Hw.). Corfe ; 
one taken by E.R.B. on Aug. 22, 1891. 
,, ,, semidecandrella, Thrjl. Studland ; 

2 specimens {teste E.R.B.) taken near the 
shore by Rev. C. R. Digby on July 17, 1888, 
have remained unidentified until now, but 
they are clearly this species. 
,, ,, SALicoRNiiE, ^rwg'. Wych ; two taken in 

a salt marsh by E.R.B. on July 31, 1894. 

Gelechia, 8tn. (Xystophora, Hein.). 
Gelechia (Xystophora) lutulentella, Z. Corfe ; one 
netted on the wing in the evening by E.R.B. 
on July 15, 1890, and taken by him abun- 
dantly in subsequent years at night in one 
meadow. 

Parasia, D. (Metzneria). 
Parasia (Metzneria) metzneriella, Stn. Corfe Castle ; 
one was taken by E.R.B. on Aug. 11, 
1909. 

SOPHRONIA, 8tn. 
Sophronia parenthesella, L. Corfe ; one was taken by 
E.R.B. on July 10, 1903 (new also to Dorset !), 
another on July 15, 1903, and another on 
July 16, 1907. 

BuTALis, Tr. 
BuTALis LAMiNELLA, H.-8. Swanage ; taken by sweeping 
amongst Helianthemum vulgare during bright 
sunshine in Punfield Cove in June, 1890, by 
E.R.B., and plentifully by him in the same 
place in the following years. 



74 LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 

Pancalia, Stn. 
Pancalia latreillella, C. Swanage ; one taken on 
Ballard Down by E.R.B. on May 30, 1891. 
(Identification confirmed by Mr. H. T. 
Stainton.) 

GLYPHIPTERIGIDiE.* 

TiNAGMA, D. (Heliozela, H.-S.) 
TiNAGMA (Heliozela) betulje, Stn. Corfe ; one swept from 
birch in Norden Plantation by E.R.B. on 
June 5, 1901. 

ARGYRESTHim^. 

Argyresthia, Stn. 
Argyresthia ephippella, F. Studland ; two taken by 
E.R.B. July 13, 1888. 

,, conjugella, Z. Arne ; several taken by 

beating a solitary Mountain Ash tree, by 
E.R.B., on May 24, 1905. 

,, MENDiCELLA, S. (mendica, Hw.). Corfe ; 

common among blackthorn (E.R.B.). Swan- 
age ; taken commonly by E.R.B. near 
Swanage in 1890 and since. 

„ ARCEUTHINELLA, MeRRIN (ARCEUTHINA, Z.). 

Rempstone Heath ; abundant among the 
junipers in the one fir plantation where they 
grow. Taken by E.R.B. on May 12, 1890. 



* Note. — Acrolepia marcidella, C. Fresh record. Studland ; 
a fine specimen was taken on the wing at about 7 p.m. on the sloping 
banks overhanging the back shore, by Rev. C. R. Digby on June 15, 
1892. This is the third specimen that Mr. Digby has taken there, and 
they have all occurred within a few yards of the old bathing house 
with a thatched roof. No. 1 was beaten out of the hedge at the top 
of the bank ; No. 2 taken sitting on a grass stem under the bathing 
hut ; No. 3 netted on the wing within 2 or 3 yards of the hedge at the 
top of the bank. (Proc. D.F.C., X., 209, and fig. 3 on plate.) 



LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 75 

Argyeesthia atmoriella, Bnks. Corfe ; taken rather 
sparingly among larch in Norden new planta- 
tion by E.R.B. in June, 1901, and plentifully 



COLEOPHORID^. 

COLEOPHORA, Z. 

CoLEOPHORA DEAURATELLA, Lnig. Swanage ; taken not 
uncommonly by sweeping amongst Trifolium 
pratense in one small hollow in the clay cliffs 
between Swanage and Punfield Cove by 
E.R.B. on July 17, 1892, and since. 

„ PALLiATELLA, Zk. Corfe ; 3 cases were found 

in Norden Copse by E.R.B. in June, 1901, and 
2 moths were bred from them. 

„ THERiNELLA, Stn. Swanage Coast ; a fine 

specimen taken by E.R.B. on June 17, 
1891. 

„ ALTICOLELLA, Z. (lAMPROCARPI, Woocl). 

Stoborough ; a few cases found on seedheads 
of Juncus articulatus by E.R.B. on Dec. 29, 
1891. Corfe; cases found on Middlebere 
heath on Feb. 12, 1891, by E.R.B. 
,, GLAUCicoLELLA, Wood. Studlaud ; larvae 

found on seedheads of Juncus hulhosus (or 
Gerardi ?) on " the plain " beyond Littlesea 
by Rev. C. R. Digby on Feb. 18, 1892. They 
were perfectly unmistakeable on account of 
the extreme minuteness of some of the cases. 
Wych ; larvae not uncommon on Juncus 
hulhosus (or Gerardi ?) in April, 1892. 
E.R.B.) 



Note. — Gracillaria phasianipennella, v-ar. quadruplella, Z. 
Studland ; bred with the type from Rumex. The species, but not the 
variety, has been already recorded in the Purbeck Ust. (Proc. D.F.C. 
VI., 171.) 



76 LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 

COLEOPHORA APICELLA, Stn. (CACUMINATELLA, Db.) Corfe ; 

larvse found on seeds of Stellaria graminea in 
hedgerows by E.R.B. in the beginning of 
August, 1891. Studland ; larvae found by 
E.R.B. on Aug. 15, 1891. 

ELACHISTID^.* 

Batrachedra, Stn. 
Batrachedra pinicolella, Z. Rempstone ; 2 taken 
amongst Scotch fir in Bushey Heath planta- 
tion by E.R.B. on July 7, 1890. 

Laverna, C. 
Laverna phragmitella, Ben., Stn. Corfe ; bred in 
abundance from old seedheads of Typha 
latifolia by E.R.B. in July, 1900. 
,, decorella, Ss. Corfe ; one taken in Norden 
House by E.R.B. on Sept. 11, 1900. 

ASYCHNA, Stn. 
AsYCHNA modestella, D. Langton Matravers ; 2 taken 
in Crack Lane by Rev. C. R. Digby on May 
29,1891. Corfe; locally abundant. (E.R.B.) 
,, ^RATELLA, Z. Swanage Coast ; one was taken 
by sweeping, by E.R.B. on July 8, 1897. 
Corfe ; one Avas taken, by sweeping, by 
E.R.B. on Aug. 5, 1901. 

Stephen SI A, Stn. 

Stephensia brunnichella, L. Church Knowle (near 

Corfe) ; undoubted traces of the work of the 

larvae in leaves of Clinopodium vulgare found 

rather commonly in Cocknowle Lane by 



* Chauliodus illigerella, H. Corfe ; one taken on the wing at 
dusk in the Rectory Copse by E.R.B. on June 27, 1892. Not new to 
Purbeck List, but a confirmation of the only previous record, viz., 
one specimen at Studland by Mr. C. W. Dale on Aug. 11, 1879. 
(Recorded in the 1st Supplement ; Proc. D.F.C., X., 211.) 



LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 77 

E.R.B. in Sept., 1892, but it was too late to 
find either larvae or pupae. It seems confined 
to the chalk, as I have frequently searched 
for it on other soils in Purbeck, but always 
in vain. 

Elachista, Stn. 
Elachista gleichenella, F. Corfe ; taken in " Scotland " 
rough field by E.R.B. in June, 1890. 
,, cinereopunctella, Hw. Winspit (near Worth) ; 

taken on June 5, 1889. (E.R.B.) 
,, SUBNIGRELLA, Dcj . Corfe ; a few specimens 

taken by E.R.B. 1887-1893. Worth; one 
taken in 1889 by E.R.B. Its food plant, 
Bromus erectus, is rare in Purbeck. 

LITHOCOLLETID^. 

* LiTHOCOLLETIS, Z. 

LiTHOCOLLETis SORBI, Frey. Corfe ; bred plentifully from 
mines in the under side of leaves of Mountain 
Ash {Sorbus aucujMria) by E.R.B. in 1896. 
(N.B. — The imago emerges through the upqxr 
surface of the leaf, as pointed out by 
Frey.) 
„ TORMiNELLA, Frr. (mespilella, H.). Corfe ; 

bred from mines on the underside of leaves of 
Mountain Ash {Sorbus aucwparia) by E.R.B. 
in 1890. Studland ; bred from quince 
{Cydonia vulgaris) by Rev. C. R. Digby in 
1884 and 1885. 



* LiTHOCOLLETIS TRiGUTTELLA, Stn. Corfe. From a careful study 
of the unique specimen in the Douglas collection, E.R.B. had made a 
note in the spring of 1892 that it was almost certainly a queer variety 
of Lith. faginella. Three weeks later he looked through the long 
series of faginella bred by him April 27 — May 12, 1891, and found a 
genuine triguttella among them, thus proving that his supposition was 
correct. Douglas' specimen is a male, the Corfe one a female. 



■ 78 LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 

LiTHOCOLLETis HEEGERiELLA, Z. Corfe ; Oil oak (E.R.B.). 

,, oxYACANTH^, Frtxj. Corfe ; mines abundant 

on hawthorn, and probably throughout 
Purbeck. Also bred sparingly from mines 
on Pyrus aucuparia collected by E.R.B. 

„ ACERiFOLiELLA, Z. Corfe ; bred from Maple. 

(E.R.B.) Ulwell; (Rev. C. R. Digby). 
Creech; (E.R.B.) 

,, PYRivoRELLA, Bnks. Corfe ; bred abund- 

antly from cultivated pear trees of various 
kinds in the Rectory Gardens, and also 
plentifully from Pyrus mains by E.R.B. ; 
also sparingly from Pyrus aucuparia by E.R.B. 

LYONETIID^. 

Opostega, Z. 
Opostega crepusculella, Fiscli. Corfe ; one taken by 
E.R.B. on July 11, 1902 ; two more by him 
on July 25, 1905, and a few others since. 

BUCCULATRIX, Z. 
BUCCULATRIX CRAT-EGIFOLIELLA, D. (CRAT^^GI, Z., Stn.). 

Swanage ; taken by E.R.B. in June, 1890. 
,, CRiSTATELLA, Fiscli. Corfe ; 2 taken in 

" Scotland " rough field on June 11, 1890, by 
Mr. N. M. Richardson, and a few subsequently 
in the same spot by E.R.B. 

NEPTICULID^. 

Nepticula, Z. 
Nepticula perpygmjeella, Dh. (pygm^ella, Hw., Stn.) 
Corfe ; bred commonly from hawthorn by 
E.R.B. in 1890 and subsequently. 
„ POMELLA, Va. Corfe ; larva common on apple 

trees. (E.R.B.) 
„ FULGENS, St7i. Corfe ; empty mines of this 

species (which are quite as easily distinguish- 
able from N. tityrella as the moths) were 



LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 79 

found in beech in Corfe Rectory garden by 
E.R.B. in Oct., 1898. 
Nepticula acetosella, Merrin (acetos^, Stn.) Corfe ; 
larvae pretty common (at the E. end of North- 
castle Hill) in leaves of Rumex acetosella 
growing among the furze bushes. First 
found by Rev. C. R. Digby on Aug. 24, 1893, 
and mines both tenanted and empty were 
then collected by him and E.R.B. Also 
locally common on the S.E. slope of the hill 
on which Corfe Castle stands. (E.R.B., 
1895.) Creech ; locally common on the hill 
above Creech Grange. (E.R.B.) 

,, centifoliella, Z., Stn. Studland ; bred May, 

1879, from larvae found in Rosa sjyinosissima 
in the Manor House pony fields by Rev. C. R. 
Digby in the autumn of 1878. Not satisfac- 
torily determined till 1892. 

,, FRAGARiELLA, Hey. (gei, Wk.) Corfe ; bred 

from bramble in Feb., 1890. (E.R.B.) 

„ CONFUSELLA, Wlsm. Corfe ; a mine found by 

E.R.B. in birch was identified in Sep 5., 1893, 
by Dr. J. H. Wood as certainly his then 
unnamed species, since described as con- 
fusella. 



Note. — The following occurs in Mr. Bankes' notes — ■ 
" Nepticula eurema, Drt. Swanage Coast (Punfield) ; taken plenti- 
fully in 1899 by sweeping amongst Lotus corniculatus. 
(E.R.B.)." 
But as I cannot discover that any description of a Nepticzda under 
this name has been published, and the circumstances strongly suggest 
cryptella, I assume that it was that species or a variety of it, perhaps 
the variety with pale opjoosite spots on the forewing alluded to under 
the record of Nepticula cryptella in the first Purbeck List, Proc. D.F.C., 
VI., 175, which may have been mistakenly thought at one time to be a 
distinct species, and for which this name may have been suggested. 
(N. M. Richardson.) 



80 LEPIDOPTERA OF THE ISLE OF PURBECK. 

Nepticula fletcheri, TuU. Corfe ; bred plentifully, in 
company with N. anomalella, from larvae in 
leaves of the garden rose growing up the E. 
front of Corfe Rectory House. (E.R.B.) 

Trifurcula, Z. 
Trifurcula immundella, Z. Rempstone Heath ; taken 
amongst broom by E.R.B. Aug. 19-31, 1889. 
Corfe ; plentiful amongst broom. 

„ PALLiDELLA, Z. Corfe ; taken sparingly 

amongst Genista tinctoria by E.R.B., Sept. 
5-18, 1889, and plentifully in the following 
year. (Only four specimens had been pre- 
viously taken in Britain, 2 in Lancashire, 
and 2 in Hertfordshire.) 

„ PULVEROSELLA, St7i. Corfe ; some empty 

mines of this species were found on wild 
apple by E.R.B., July 23, 1897. 

PTEROPHORI. 
PTEROPHORID^. 

Pterophorus, Lt. 
Pterophorus isodactylus, Z. Stoborough water meadows ; 
4 or .5 larvse found in stems of Senecio aquaticus 
by E.R.B. on August 2, 1890. 
,, GALACTODACTYLUS, H. Crecch Grange ; bred 

from larvae found on burdock by E.R.B. in 
the " big wood " on June 12, 1891. Corfe ; 
occurs sparingly in one small spot in a wood. 



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Interim Beport on tl)c 

(Exritbations at iEaumburt) Hings, 

Dorclicstcr, 1912. 



Committee : 



H. Colley March, M.D., F.S.A., Chairman. 



John E. Acland, F.S.A., Hon. Sec. 



W. M. Barnes 
J. G. N. CHft 
J. M. Falkner 
R. H. Forster 



* J. C. Mansel-Pleydell 
H. B. Middleton 

* H. Pentin 

Alfred Pope, F.S.A. 



C. S. Prideaux 
W. de C. Prideaux 
* N. M. Richardson 
C. W. Whistler 



* Executive Body, Dorset Field Club. 




HE Report which follows has been prepared by 
Mr. H. St. George Gray, who has once more 
directed the investigations for the Committee, 
the season's work having lasted from 26th Aug. 
to 18th Sept., 1912. 

The many interesting features which were 
brought to light are fully described and illus- 
trated in the following pages, and all tend to 
confirm the views previously expressed as to 

the history of the site, and the character of the work 

executed at different periods. 



82 EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 

The thanks of the Committee are especially due to Mr, C. 
S. Prideaux for the constant help rendered to Mr. Gray, and 
for the hospitality accorded to him during his visit. We 
should also mention Major Willcock and Mr. Sebastian Evans, 
who almost daily gave assistance on the ground. As in 
former years, materials and appliances were lent by the 
Town Council of Dorchester, Messrs. Lott and Walne, Mr. 
Foot, Mr. Slade, and Mr. Feacey, to all of whom we tender 
our thanks. 

The total expenditure for the 3'ear came to £84 6s. 4d., and 
the receipts to £100 14s. 7d., but charges incidental to the 
production of this Report have still to be met. 

Signed on behalf of the Committee, 

H. CoLLEY March, 

Chairman. 



EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 83 

SHORT REPORT 
ON THE EXCAVATIONS OF 1912. 



By H. ST. GEORGE GRAY. 



Brief Description of the Plates accompanying this 
Report : — 

Plate I. — Sketch-plan of Maumbury Rings, similar to that given 
in the Third Interim Report, 1910, the position of the 1912 excavations 
having been added. It shows the relative position of the cuttings 
made in 1908, 1909, 1910, and 1912, but the scale is too small to 
attempt to show structural details. This plan differs, however, fron:i 
the previous one in indicating the position of the prehistoric shafts so 
far discovered, and it is seen that they follow the curve of the great 
embankment at the foot of the interior slojoe. 

Plate II., fig. A. — Cutting XXVII., outside the N.N.E. Entrance, 
September 4th, 1912. Photograph taken from the W.N.W. margin 
of a grave containing a human skeleton, the knees of which are drawn 
up.. The interment was at a minimum depth of 2"4ft. below the 
surface of the turf. To the east a smaller excavation in the solid chalk 
was found, connected with the grave jDroper, but divided by a slight 
ridge of chalk. At the bottom of the smaller hole a few iron nails and 
a dark brown earthenware pot, of Romano -British type, were dis- 
covered. The pot (fig. 1 in text) is shown in this photograph in the 
exact position in which it was uncovered, at a distance of 3'2ft. from 
the top of the skull. 

Plate II., fig. B.— Cutting XXI., Shaft X., September 13th, 1912. 
Part of the back of the skull of a red-deer with antlers attached ; 
photographed in the jaosition discovered in the filling of Shaft X,, at a 
depth of 14"5ft. below the turf over the arena. The skull was found 
tight against the wall of the shaft. One of the antlers (max. length 



84 EXCAVATIONS AT MATJMBURY RINGS. 

3ft. 2ins.) was complete, having brow, bez, and trez tines, and four 
points on top. A broken antler pick is seen at the bottom of the 
photograph. 

Plate III. — Cutting XXI., W.N.W. side of the arena, September 
13th, 1912. Photograph giving a general view of this large cutting 
taken from the N.W. terrace, looking S.W. ; in the distance the S.W. 
embankment, and on the extreme left the southern entrance. The 
solid chalk wall covers a large part of the right-hand side of the photo- 
graph, above which the material forming the XVII. Century terrace 
is seen. Following the line of the eastern margin of the cutting and 
running nearly parallel to it, the curved edge of the arena is well 
defined ; it is bounded by the " inner trench," in which the position 
of the post-holes is indicated by wooden pegs. The line of the 
" outer trench " is represented by the post-holes seen in the middle 
of the foreground. Owing to the presence of a series of prehistoric 
shafts, rammed chalk had to be used by the Romans very considerably 
in this position. The levelling-rod stands on rammed chalk flooring, 
which, on being removed, revealed Shaft VIII. ; the mouths of other 
shafts are seen in the photograph. 

Plate IV.— Cutting XXI., Shafts VIII., IX., and X., September 
18th, 1912. PhotograjDh taken from the N.N.E. siiowing some of the 
shafts excavated in the solid chalk in prehistoric times and re-excavated 
recently to reveal their form, depth, and contents. At the toj? of the 
photograph the margin of Shaft VIII. can be traced ; this was not 
re-excavated. Behind the top of the ladder the mouth of Shaft IX. 
is seen ; this was entirely cleared out, its depth being 28'5ft. below 
the surface of the turf over the arena. The 25-rung ladder stands on 
the bottom of Shaft X. (depth 25'5ft.) ; this pit had a double bottom 
divided by a little chalk ridge 9ins. high. In the immediate foreground 
comes Shaft XI., the S. half of which was re-excavated to the bottom 
(depth 28ft.). 

Plate V.— Cutting XXI., Shafts IX., X., and XI., September 18th, 
1912. Photograph taken from the S.S.W. from the slope of the 
terrace, showing Shaft XI. in process of re-excavation. Shaft IX., 
in the foreground, was cleared out and filled up again before this 
photograph was taken. The 25-rung ladder rests on the bottom of 
Shaft X. Dark seams of mould or decayed vegetable matter are seen 
in the chalk rubble filling of Shaft XI. Very narrow ridges of chalk 
are seen to divide Shafts IX. and X., and Shafts X. and XI. On the 
right-hand side the edge of the western curve of the solid chalk 
arena-floor is seen ; Roman remains were found on it. 



EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 85 

I. — Introductory Remarks. 

Our knowledge of Roman amphitheatres in Britain has 
been at a standstill from the time of the close of the excava- 
tions at Maumbury Rings in 1910 till the renewal of the 
work at Dorchester in August, 1912. It was anticipated 
that the exploration of the amphitheatre known as " King 
Arthur's Round Table " at Caerleon would be continued in 
1912, but it has not been found practicable. There is, how- 
ever, at the present time a scheme before the public to raise 
£500 to purchase the site of this amphitheatre, to excavate it, 
and to put the remains in such a state of repair as to enable 
them to withstand the weather. When completed it is 
possible that the monument may be handed over to the 
National Trust. Comparative notes on the Maumbury and 
Caerleon amphitheatres were given in my third Report, and 
Mr. John Ward, F.S.A., has since that time put a few notes 
on record.* 

The oval structure at Caerwent has not been proved to 
be an amphitheatre, f and recent excavations there have 
revealed nothing of a definite character. There is said to be 
a circular wall, some 130 feet in diameter, enclosing an 
octagon, and inside the latter some stonework not yet 
examined. { 

The director of the Maumbury excavations, as in past 
years, has received valuable support from the members of 
the sub-Committee, and the general organisation of the 
investigations was all that could be desired. Dr. H. Colley 
March, F.S.A., Captain J. E. Acland, F.S.A., and Mr. W. 
de C. Prideaux were frequently on the ground ; and Mr. 
Chas. S. Prideaux, without whom the work could not have 
been carried on with any degree of comfort, showed all his 



* Archaeol. Journ., LXIX. (1912), 184, 193, 203. 
t Archaeol. Journ., LXIX. (1912), 198. 

X It is thought that tlie structure may prove to be some sort of 
temple. 



86 EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS, 

enthusiasm and acumen of former years ; his camping 
arrangements, with caravan and tents, were even on a more 
lavish scale than in 1910. The kind assistance of Major S. 
Willcock and Mr. Sebastian Evans cannot be too warmly 
acknowledged. As previoush', the director has held himself 
responsible for the recording of the work, the preparation of 
all plans, sectional drawings and photographs,* as well as 
the care and repair of the relics discovered. Help in the 
matter of identifj'ing specimens has been kindly rendered 
by Mr. E. T. Newton, F.R.S., Mr. Clement Reid, F.R.S., and 
Mr. W. Denison Roebuck, F.L.S. 

In conjunction with this, the Fourth Interim Report, 
readers are recommended to peruse the previously published 
papers on the subject, to enable them to interpret the full 
significance of some of the details of structural interest. 
The sketch-plan (Plate I.) is intended merely to show the 
general outline of Maumbury Rings and the relative position 
of the twenty-nine cuttings already made. The detailed 
plans, sectional diagrams, and contoured map (it should be 
repeated in this paper) are reserved for a fuller Report on 
the excavations. 

During this season the investigation of the outer part of 
the northern entrance was completed, finding the Civil War 
trench again and the limit of the chalk cut to form a flat 
roadway leading into the arena. The first cutting (No. XXII.) 
made, revealed quite a new structural feature, viz., a deep 
trench of V-shaped section which extended first in a N.W. 
direction, and afterwards turned almost due south, terminat- 
ing at the foot of the great embankment not many j-ards 
westward of the Avestern margin of the entrance. In pursuing 
this investigation another human skeleton, the fifth found 
in these excavations, was discovered — in this instance in a 
shallow grave hewn in the chalk, — and associated with these 



* Subscribers may see the full series of photographs (1908-1910, and 
1912) on applying at the Dorset County Museum. 



EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 87 

bones of a powerfully-built and tall man was a small and 
complete earthenware vessel, assigned to the Romano- 
British period. 

Within the Rings, a very large cutting (No. XXI.), measur- 
ing some 60ft. by 26ft., was made on the N.W. side of the 
arena in continuation of Cutting XX. of 1910, where a large 
area deeply recessed into the solid chalk wall (described in 
the Third Interim Report) Avas discovered. In this excava- 
tion we had to deal with a period covering some 4,000 years, 
or at least from Neolithic times down to the Civil Wars of 
Charles I. The northern termination of this western recess 
and platform was found ; and it was observed that the solid 
chalk wall further north sloped considerably, and was more- 
over covered to a large extent with rammed chalk. This 
afforded indication of the existence of another series of 
prehistoric shafts below the rammed chalk of the Roman 
work. Undoubtedly the Romans had great difficulties to 
contend with when forming their amphitheatre, or adapting 
the site to their requirements. In this particular cutting, 
only a small part of the western curve of the arena floor was 
found to be of solid chalk, all the other Roman work over 
the position of several prehistoric shafts being of rammed 
chalk ; so that the greatest care had to be exercised in 
following the details of construction. 

It is worthy of note that the inner curve of the earthwork 
follows the line of these shafts, the relative position of which 
is given in the Plan (Plate I.) ; and it may prove to be an 
important factor in determining the age of the great embank- 
ment. The existence of at least eleven of these shafts is now 
known, and a large proportion of our time this season has 
been occupied in endeavouring to ascertain their true 
significance. Their contents have been of no little interest, 
but their real purpose is not positively proved, although it is 
probable that in sinking them an attempt was made to obtain 
good flint suitable for the manufacture of small or delicate 
implements. Their depth was fairly uniform. Measured 
from the present turf-level covering the arena, the depths of 



88 EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 

the five shafts re-excavated were 24-5, 25-5, 28, 28-5, and 
30 feet respectively. 

One of the chief reasons for making this large cutting 
(No. XXI.) was to complete the excavation of the N.W. 
quarter of the margin of the arena from the transverse axis 
to the northern entrance, and to trace the arena wall con- 
tinuously, the inner and outer trenches, and the post-holes 
in which the vertical supports for the barriers formerly stood. 
This has been satisfactorily accomplished. 

The most important things which remain to be done 
are : — The excavation of the eastern recess and platform 
(on the line of the transverse axis), if such exist ; the tracing 
of the arena wall and its accompanying features from the 
middle of the eastern side to Cutting II. Extension near the 
northern entrance ; and the examination of the great embank- 
ment down to the ancient turf line. It is proposed to cut a 
section through half the bank from the inner side in one 
position, and half from the outer side in quite a different 
place ; in this way there will be no permanent disfigurement 
to the present contour of the earthwork, and the archaeological 
evidence derivable thereby should be as valuable by this 
means as by making a single cutting straight through the 
great bank. It is a question, too, if the front (N. side) of the 
so-called "den" should not be examined. Time did not 
permit of completing the work in this position in 1909. 



II. — Excavations Outside the Northern Entrance, 

Cuttings XXII., XXVI., XXVIII., and XXIX., see 
Plan, Plate I. 

{See Cuttings XVII. and XIX., Reyort, 1910.) 

Cutting XXII. in the first instance measured 36ft. by 
6ft., and was made at right angles to the long axis of Maum- 
bury. In digging Cutting XVII. (1910) the N. limit of the 
floor of the ancient entrance was not reached ; it was found 



EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 89 

to be rising slightly towards the N., whereas the floor of the 
" Civil War trench " fell in the same direction (see Plate II., 
Report, 1910). The object in digging Cutting XXII., there- 
fore, was to ascertain whether the solid chalk entrance 
extended further towards the town. In Cutting XVII. the 
W. chalk wall was revealed in diminished proportions, and 
this year it was found to disappear altogether beyond Cutting 
XXII. Moreover, the rise in the chalk roadway ceased, and 
proof was afforded that the N. termination of the Roman 
entrance was 3" 8ft. higher than the solid arena at its N. 
margin. Close to the floor a piece of ornamented Samian 
pottery (No. 248) was uncovered, and a coin of Constantino I. 
{Vrbs Roma) was found in filling-in. 

It was found also that the Civil War trench on the east 
side of this cutting was still falling northwards, the difference 
in the level of the bottom of the trench and the Roman floor 
being about 2- 3ft. This trench was 7-7ft. wide at the Roman 
level, and 5-7ft. at the bottom. In the lower half of the 
filling were found XVII. Century shards, an iron key-shaped 
object (Fig. 2), and a French counter with AVE as the only 
legend, repeated {circa 1550). 

In Cutting XXIV. (7ft. by 3ft.), further N.N.E., the W. 
edge of the C.W. trench was again struck ; also in Cutting 
XXV. (10ft. by 4ft.) close to the wall of the Constabulary 
Station, where it was 4 •5ft. deep below the present surface. 
In it were found a small bronze buckle and some XVII. 
Century shards. Another reason for digging here was 
because archaeological remains were discovered when the 
wall was being built in 1893, and the trench was also disclosed 
then.* The C.W. trench was again met with in a garden 



* Dorset Album, Vol. I., part 2, p. 27b. — " April, 1893 ; five graves 
shown as having clean straight cut sides, 3ft. or 4ft. deep, running in a 
line 70ft. to 180ft. measured from Wej^mouth Road fence. In the 
graves two Roman coins, a small Roman cup and a two-handled cup 
(R68 and R139), a rapier, iron bands, coffin nails, &c." These 
antiquities are in the Dorset County Museum. 



90 EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 

behind the Police Station late in 1910, and its position was 
noted by Mr. C. S. Prideaux. 

In digging Cutting XXII. an entirely new structural 
feature was found, viz., a large ditch (called the New Ditch) of 
V-shaped section extending obliquely across the W. half of 
the cutting. Its E. termination, abrupt and clean cut, was 
found to be about 6ft. short of the W. margin of the C.W. 
trench. Here its average dimensions at the Roman floor 
level were, — width at top 7ft., depth 3- 7ft. In the filling 
of the ditch a number of shards of potter^-, some glazed, 
were found, all, except two small Romano-British frag- 
ments, dating between Norman times and the XVII. 
Century. 

Cutting XXIII., lift, by 4ft., was dug with the intention of 
tracing the course of the new ditch, which was found to be 
clearly defined, and its N. margin was also traced between 
this cutting and Cutting XXII. In the filling at a depth of 
2*3ft. was found the false spout of some sort of glazed puzzle- 
jug (No. 336), Avith slits and perforations, date circa 1650. 
With the same object in view the E. end of Cutting XXVII. 
was dug, bvit the ditch was not found to extend so far 
westwards. 

Cutting XXVI., 16'8ft. long, 4"7ft. max. width, was also 
dug to follow the New Ditch, and it soon became evident 
that it made an abrupt turn southwards at the N. end of the 
cutting (see Plan). The full width of the ditch was not 
exposed here, but the bottom was laid bare (average width 
l*6ft.). On the outer side, on the top of the solid chalk profile 
of the ditch, a semicircular recess was cleared out, measuring 
2^ft. in length. Glazed shards were again found here, and 
close to the bottom a modern tea-spoon (No. 261) of German 
silver, plated, circa 1870. The shape of the spoon came into 
use at the end of the XVIII. Century, but this thin form is of 
much more recent date. 

In seeking the termination of the ditch. Cutting XXVIII., 
a small excavation, 6ft. by 55ft., was made further south. 
Here a quantity of ox bones was found within 3ft. of the 



EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 91 

surface ; and at 6ft. an iron spike-nail (No. 277), length 
7|ins., having a rather modern appearance. 

The last excavation made in this connection was Cutting 
XXIX., irregular in outline, its N.N.E. margin being only 
a few feet from Cutting XXVIII. Here we found the termina- 
tion of the New Ditch a foot or two under the exterior slope 
of the great embankment (see Plan). The bottom, having 
an increased average width of 2ft., was reached 6ft. below the 
surface. At the end of the ditch and at the W.S.W. corner 
of the cutting, a trench (width 3ft. at bottom) was found to 
join the larger ditch at a higher level, and it appeared to 
extend in a W. direction. Here our investigations had to cease. 

Scattered on the bottom of Cutting XXIX. was found the 
greater part of a thin glazed earthenware vessel (No. 295), 
ornamented with horizontal ribbings and a wave pattern. 
It is a kind of albarello, height SJins., of a form often seen in 
Lambeth delft. It is referable to the middle of the XVII. 
Century. The iron harness-ring (No. 304) found on the 
bottom of the side trench has a modern appearance. 

General Description of the New Ditch. — This ditch, measured 
along the middle, was about 95ft. in length. Beginning in 
Cutting XXII. just outside the N. entrance, it extended in a 
N.N.W. direction, and after turning to the W.N.W. for a 
short distance it made, on approaching Cutting XXVI., an 
abrupt turn towards the S., terminating against the great 
embankment. It was about 9 ■5ft. wide at the turf level. It 
was quite evident that it had not been allowed to silt up, but 
was intentionally filled, and apparently the material was 
thrown in from the inner side. 

Whatever its purpose, it could never have been used for 
drainage, as the relative levels of the bottom show. Between 
the E. end of Cutting XXII. (see Plan) and its W. end there is 
a fall of 0-58ft., and from the latter point to Cutting XXIII. 
a fall of only 008ft. Then, between Cutting XXIII. and 
the N. end of Cutting XXVI. there is a rise of 0-34ft., and in 
the length of the latter cutting a rise of 1ft. ; in Cutting 
XXIX. the bottom was at a still higher level. Thus it is seen 



92 EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 

that the bottom of the New Ditch at its angle was about 6ins. 
deeper than the E. termination and about 21 ins. deeper than 
the other end against the embankment. 

The relics discovered were for the most part XVII. Century. 
Of course it is quite possible that the modern tea-spoon had 
worked down to the depth of 5- 7ft. by means of burrowing 
animals ; on the other hand if it were thrown in with the 
filling it would indicate that the ditch was still open circa 
1870 ! The fact that one or two Romano-British shards 
were found deep is of no importance, as they are frequently 
found mixed with the soil in the vicinity of a Roman station. 

The ditch can in all probability be dated by the albarello 
found on the bottom, viz., about the middle of the XVII. 
Century ; and the great majority of the shards, &c., point 
to that period. The ditch very likely was hurriedly dug and 
its use of short duration, and it is quite probable that it was 
refilled very soon after its original excavation. The solid 
chalk sides had not the appearance of long exposure to 
subaerial forces. 

This ditch may have served as a protection against a sudden 
attack of Roj^alists from the direction of the Weymouth 
Road, when the Parliamentary troops held Maumbury 
during the Civil Wars. The excavated material may perhaps 
have been deposited on the inner side to form a stockade and 
a bank for musketeers to lie down upon when defending the 
entrance from the enemy's attack.* 



III. — Human Interment in Cutting XXVII. 

This was the most westerly cutting made outside the N. 
entrance (see Plan). It was begun with the intention of 



* Major Phillips, R.E., in " Field Fortification," says, " It is 
generally desirable to close or protect a ' gorge ' of open works with 
some obstacle, as a guard against surprise. It may be of any nature, 
provided it keeps an enemy out of the work." 



EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 93 

tracing the New Ditch, and in making this attempt Major 
Willcock turned up a human lower jaw. The cutting was 
extended to 14£t. by 4ft. to afford room for further investiga- 
tion. 

Eventually the complete skeleton of a powerfully-built 
man, fully adult, was uncovered in a grave of irregular form 
hewn in the solid chalk, the natural surface of which was 
I'Sft. below the turf (see Plate II.). The grave proper was 
found to be 5-2ft. in length at the bottom ; to the east was an 
oblong cavity measuring 3"4ft. by 2-8ft. at the top, being a 
little smaller at the bottom, which was reached at a depth 
of 3- 15ft. beneath the surface. The two parts of the grave 
were divided by a ridge of chalk of slight relief and about 
1ft. wide, the skull coming very near the west margin of the 
ridge ; the top of the cranium was only 2 •4ft. below the 
surface. The grave proper was 2- 15ft. wide at the top, and 
l'9ft. at the bottom. Thus it is seen that the body was 
pushed into a narrow grave, head to E., feet to W. The 
right foot pressed against the solid end ; both legs were 
drawn up at the knees. The head rested on its left side on 
the bottom of the grave, facing S.S.W. The body touched 
the sides of the grave at four points, viz., the left knee, right 
hip, right elbow, and left hand. The length of the skeleton 
measured in its cramped position, from the skull to the 
toes, was 5-5ft. Mixed with the soil and rubble, filling the 
grave, were a few flint flakes. 

An interesting discovery was made at the bottom of the 
oblong cavity to the east of the skull and at a distance of 
3'2ft. from it, viz., a complete globular vessel. No. 264 (Fig. 
1), of dark brown pottery of a form and quality typical of the 
Romano -British period, and of similar character to the pot 
(No. 205) found in some fifty fragments (but now restored) 
close to the right hand of the contracted human skeleton 
met with in Cutting XVIII. in the N. entrance (see Report, 
1910). The vase (No. 264) was found standing on its base, 
as seen in Plate II. ; height 4ins., max. diam. nearly 4ins. 
It is not lathe-turned ; the external surface is burnished at 



94 



EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 



264 




top and bottom, but 
the band encircling the 
pot is rougher and is or- 
namented by burnished 
oblique lines. Within 
a foot of the vessel and 
on its N. side several 
flat-headed iron nails 
(No. 265), originally 
about 2|ins. long, were 
found within a small 
area (Plate II.). Wood, 
resembling oak, still 
adheres to them. 

The skull may be 
described as medium- 
headed, approaching 
round, being rounder 
than that of the R.B. 
skeleton found in Cut- 
ting XVIII. The hori- 
zontal circumference of 

the skulls is the same. The occipital protuberance is abnor- 
mally developed ; the internal ridge at this point is also very 
prominent — the thickness of the skull here being 20'5mm. 

The skull (Cutting XXVII.) has a remarkably powerful 
lower jaw with square chin and wide angle, the bigonial 
breadth being 113mm. (the average of eight lower jaws of 
the Romano-British period found by Pitt-Rivers in Wor 
Barrow being 97mm.). The ridges for the attachment of 
muscles are enormously developed, and the maximum thick- 
ness of the jaw is 18-5mm. 

The bones are very massive and thick, and the muscular 
attachments well developed. The thighs are deeply arched 
and have very pronounced longitudinal ridges. The 
estimated stature, calculated from femora plus tibiae, is 
6ft. Ofin. 



Fig. 1. — Earthenware Pot of the 
Romano-British period, found in 
association with the human skeleton 
in Cutting XXVII., 

Maumbury Rings, 1912. 

{From a Drawing; hij Mr. E. SpranhUng.) 



EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 95 

IV.— Cutting XXI. 
Roman and Later (Plate III.). 

Cutting XXI. was the largest excavation made during 
the four seasons' Avork, its margins, though irregular, measur- 
ing some 60ft. by 26ft. During the work three main objects 
Avere kept in view, viz. {a) the examination of the remaining 
portion of the platform and enclosure recessed into the solid 
chalk wall ; (b) the completion of the examination of the 
structural details in the N.W. quarter of the arena, so that 
the former excavations in Cuttings X. and XX. might be 
connected ; and (c) observations having reference to the 
position of prehistoric shafts, if any existed, between those 
in Cutting XX. (1910) and Shafts I. (1908) and IV. (1910) 
further round the curve to the N.E. Here we have to deal 
with (a) and (b). 

The N.E. termination of the enclosure was reached much 
nearer to Cutting XX. than was anticipated. All through 
the new cutting the material thrown up during the Civil 
Wars to form a terrace was removed, and the face left standmg 
on the N.W. showed — as clearly as any diagram could — the 
old turf line which formerly represented the contour of the 
lower part of the great embankment between Roman times 
and the XVII. Century (Plate III.). Below this, again, was 
more rubble, apparently attributable to the Roman period, 
which covered another old turf line, less well defined, just 
above what appeared to be the natural level of the chalk. 
But on coming a little further eastward from the N.W. margin 
of the cutting, it was found that the solid chalk had been 
worked down to a considerable slope, and it was evident that 
this was prehistoric work, suggesting the existence of the 
mouths of the shafts at no great distance beloAv (Plates III. 
and v.). 

For the present, however, we must return to later times. 
In the material forming the Civil W^ar terrace XVII. Century 
shards were found and three leaden bullets ; also a Nuremberg 



96 EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 

counter, circa 1550 (No. 266), the obverse inscribed " Hans 
Schulter," the reverse inscription blundered. On the old turf 
line below the terrace material the following were found : — 
A small metal pin (No. 259), an iron knife (No. 257), and a 
well-worn bronze bell, or crotal (No. 256), of a form known 
to date from Elizabethan times. Of greater interest was 
the Harrington farthing (No. 258) of Charles I. (the earlier 
issue) found in the same position, namely, the level at which 
the threepence of Elizabeth, 1564 (No. 192), was discovered 
in 1910. 

Mixed with the rubble towards the base of the terrace 
was found a ring-bead (No. 273) of lemon-coloured glass 
partly encompassed by the remains of a bronze link for 
suspension (Fig. 2). As it is of Late-Celtic character it was 
evidently not in its original position. The type is not 
uncommon in the Lake-villages of Somerset. Two large 
and six small ring-beads of light amber-coloured glass (one 
is of lemon shade) were found at Belbury Camp.* 

The next stage in the operations was to clear the N.N.E. 
end of the recess and platform, which, judging from the relics 
found in 1910, were cut out of the solid chalk during the 
Roman period ; and it will be interesting to know if a similar 
enclosure exists below the terrace on the opposite, or E.S.E., 
side of the arena. It was to be regretted that the whole of 
this area on the W. could not be excavated at one and the 
same time (Plate IV., 1910 Report). But the drawings 
clearly show that the enclosure, as far as the cut chalk is 
concerned, was not rectangular but an irregular oblong ; 
neither was it centrally placed when considered in connection 
with the central transverse axis of Maumbury. The enclosure 
was bounded by chalk walls, except on the side open to the 
arena, and at both ends there were trenches dug to receive 
large vertical wooden posts. Measured at the foot of the 



* Exhibited in the Dorset County Museum ; Archaeologia, XLVIII., 
PI. vi., 10. 



EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 97 

walling the platform was 16ft. long, including the trenches 
(2ft. each). It is less easy to give its original width, the 
solid margin on the E. being interfered AA'ith owing to the 
position of Shafts VII. and VIII., but the maximum width 
of the solid part remaining is lift. 

At, and just beyond, the N.E. corner of the platform, but 
at a higher level, a group of eight stones was uncovered 
(depth l"6ft. below the turf line under the terrace material). 
They were contained in an area 4ft. by 2- 8ft. The most 
easterly slab bore signs of fire, and the charred wood collected 
proved to be hazel. Another scattered group of five stones 
was revealed at the N.E. end of the cutting on the Roman 
level. 

Along the E.S.E. margin of the cutting the solid arena- 
floor was reached at a depth of 3"55ft. and at a level about 
1ft. lower than the platform of the recess (Plates III. and V.). 
This floor was bounded by the inner trench, was somewhat 
complicated in design, and had the ledge, or step, on the 
inner side more or less slightly recessed at irregular intervals 
averaging 6ft., similar to features met with in Cutting XX. 

Near the margin of the inner trench a basin-shaped hole 
was discovered in the arena-floor, 14|in. by 12|in., and 
6Jins. deep ; round the sides there were about twenty well- 
defined pick-marks. (A small white patch marks the spot 
in Plate III.) Near the hole a narrow seam of flint projected 
(sometimes 2in.) above the level of the floor. 

On the floor and close to the hole an uninscribed British 
coin of bronze (No. 269) was found — of a degraded' type and 
of a kind common in Dorset (Fig. 2). Some years ago these 
coins were supposed to belong to about the end of the first 
century B.C. ; in 1897 they were found at Rushmore (S. 
Wilts) in association with coins of Claudius I., A.D. 41—54 ; * 
but from recent discoveries at Hengistbury Head in Hants 
it is now known that they were current till about A.D. 
130. 

* Pitt-Rivers' "Excavations," IV., Plate 317. 



98 



EXCAVATIONS AT MATJMBURY RINGS. 



Near the British coin, on the floor, a much distorted bronze 
armlet (No. 270) of the " slip-knot " variety was found 
(Fig. 2). The method of manufacture rendered it possible 



249 




Fig. 2. — Relics found at Maumbury Rings, 1912. 

2-19. Iron Key-shaped Object, Cutting XXII. 269. Uninscribed 
British Coin. 270. Bronze Armlet, distorted, of the " slip-knot " 
variety. 273. Lemon-coloured Glass Bead (scale §). 288. Flint 
Implement. 300. Ornamented Pot-cover. 335. Iron Arrowhead. 

All, with the exception of No. 249, were found in Cutting XXI. 

{From Drawings bi/ Mr. E. SpranUing.) 



EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 99 

to pass the armlet over a hand, however large, the spring of 
the ornament exerting a pressure on the arm which would 
keep it in place. These armlets have not infrequently been 
found in England, including, in the S.W., Woodcuts (N. 
Dorset) and Puckington (Somerset). A bronze leglet of the 
same type was found in 1896 in Albert Road, Dorchester, 
encircling the thigh-bone of a human skeleton.* 

On the same part of the arena floor, or near it, the following 
remains of the Roman period were found : — 263, piece of a 
Kimmeridge shale armlet and an iron nail ; 267, small disc 
of stone, probably a counter ; 271, rim piece of pottery with 
burnished lattice pattern ; and 272, piece of green glass 
handle. 

Owing to the earlier mutilation of the solid chalk, the 
whole of the trench in this cutting, in w^hich wooden posts 
had been placed to support the outer barrier, and the greater 
part of the inner trench which followed the true margin of 
the arena, had been formed in rammed and puddled chalk, 
and in some places they were filled with a dark, rich mould. 
Post-holes were clearly defined in these trenches, those in 
the outer trench averaging 3ft., and those in the inner trench 
4ft., apart (Plate III.). Most of these post-holes were 
circular. 

Dealing with so much rammed chalk it was by no means 
easy to trace the true surface of the Roman work, but when 
the clue was once obtained the features were carefully exposed. 
Repairs had evidently been frequent. In places the surface 
of the rammed chalk w^as covered with shells (described 
elsewhere) . 

It now remains to give a brief description of the rest of the 
numbered relics found in Cutting XXI. having reference to 
the Roman work. 



* It is exhibited in the Dorset County Museum, as also are t^vo 
twisted armlets of gold of similar design from the Fayyiim, Egypt. 
The Dorchester and Puckington specimens are figured in the writer's 
paper on the subject in Proc. Som. Arch. Soc, LVII., ii., 94. 



100 EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 

255. Iron nail, embedded in highest part of wall. 

260. " Third brass " coin of Constantine I., circa A.D. 335 ; a 
poor specimen of the Gloria Exercitus type ; depth 2ft. below the 
larger group of stones. 

268. Small globular glass bead, painted red ; in rammed chalk. 

274. Fragment of shale armlet, on level of inner trench ; another 
piece. No. 334, found in filling-in. 

288. ChiiDped flint implement, weathered white, of Neolithic 
type, length 3^in. (Fig. 2) ; in rammed chalk, depth 3ft. 

294. Fragment of red Samian ware, ornamented ; depth 2"5ft. 

296. Oval hammer-stone of bi-convex section, 3in. in diam., 
smooth on both faces and bearing evidence of hammering round the 
edges ; in rammed chalk, depth 5"5ft. 

297. Part of a Romano-British bowl of black burnished ware, 
with bead rim ; in inner trench, depth 6ft. 

298. Fragments of red Samian and other ware ; in the rammed 
chalk of arena-floor, depth 4' 7ft. 

299. Fragments of R.B. pottery, red on faces, black internally ; 
depth 4' 85ft. on arena-floor. 

300. Greater part of a pot-cover, of blackish-brown ware, with 
funnel-shaped perforated knob (Fig. 2) ; the burnished surface faintly 
ornamented with triangles filled with crossed lines, and comparable 
with designs found in the Lake-villages in Somerset. Depth 4'8ft. 
on rammed chalk arena level. 

301. Large iron ring, corroded and distorted ; over the inner 
trench, depth 4"8ft. 

302. Bent bronze pin, perhaps of a brooch ; on rammed floor. 

303. Part of an iron spear-head with sides hammered up to form 
a socket ; found as No. 302. 

335. Small iron arrowhead (Fig. 2), with rivet-hole on one side 
of the hammered up socket, length 51mm. ; found in filling-in. 



v.— Cutting XXI. 

The Prehistoric Shafts (Plates III., IV., and V.). 

[See Cutting X., Report, 1908 ; Cutting XV., 1909; Cuttings 
XII. Extension and XX., 1910.) 

We must now turn to the someAvhat puzzling shafts of 
which eleven have been uncovered at the mouth, five having 
been completely re-excavated (Plan, Plate I.). The first was 



Plate iv 







MAUMBURY RINGS, DORCHESTER, 1912. CUTTING XXI. i 

PREHIvSTORIC vSHAFTS, Nos. VIII, IX, X and XI. j 

(Full Title given at the beginning of the Report.) I 

From a Photograph by Mr. H. St. George Gray,' 



EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 101 

cleared out at the foot of the earthwork in Cutting X. (1908), 
depth 30ft. (the depth of all being given below the nearest 
turf over the arena). In front of " the den " in Cutting XV. 
(1909) at least two shafts (Nos. II. and III.) are known, one 
of which was re-excavated to a depth of 19ft. Cutting XII. 
Extension revealed part of the outline of a very large pit, 
No. IV. (Plate III., 1910 Report) ; and a series of three 
shafts (Nos. v., VI., and VII.) were met with in Cutting XX. 
between the " inner trench " and the solid chalk core of the 
arena-wall (Plate IV., 1910 Report). Of these. No. VI. was 
completely re-excavated (depth 24-5ft.), and within 2ft. of 
the bottom fragments of a rude pottery vessel were found. 
The outline of Shaft VIII. was partly revealed in 1910, and 
partly in 1912 when Cutting XXI. was extended for the 
purpose. At the top of the filling, part of an antler pick 
(No. 320) was found. 

The excavation of Cutting XXI. added three shafts more 
(Nos. IX., X., and XI.) to the list, and the bottom of all of 
them Avas reached, their depth being 28'5ft., 25'5ft., and 
28ft. respectively. The average depth of the five shafts 
re-excavated was 27" 3ft. 

Their outlines were irregular (Plate I.). Nos. VI., VII., 
and VIII. were separated from each other at the top by 
very narrow partitions, and Nos. IX., X., and XI. were 
similar in this respect. A few feet separated Shafts V. and 
VI., and Shafts VIII. and IX. ; a V-shaped gutter cut in the 
solid chalk connected the two latter. 

Shaft IX. (Plates III. and IV.). — Below the mouth where 
the sides became steep the shaft was 7ft. in diam., and at a 
ledge further down the dimensions were 4- 25ft. by 4' 5ft. 
At 1ft. from the bottom it was only l"7ft. across, and 
ultimately it lessened to 1ft.* At the top of the shaft against 
the N.W. side two deep, vertical, and well-worn grooves M-ere 



* The floor of one of the shafts at Cissbury was 4*5ft. in diameter, 
and this was unusually small {Archaeologia, LXIII., 123). 



102 EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 

noticed, which may have been caused by the rubbing of 
ropes used for the ascent and descent of men and material 
when the shaft was sunk. 

Red-deer antler was plentiful, including twelve picks, more 
or less broken, found in the filling, down to a depth of 27ft. 
Two crowns of antlers were also met with ; one had perhaps 
served the purpose of a rake ; the other had been much used, 
judging from the extreme smoothness of the implement. 
Three of the picks bore traces of fire. With few exceptions 
the picks found here and in the adjoining shafts were formed 
from shed antlers. 

A few large flint flakes, up to 4|in. in length, were found 
between 23ft. and 26ft., and a flint with deep marks of 
calcination, depth 26-5ft. One small fragment of prehistoric 
pottery (No. 291), unornamented, was discovered at 26ft. 

Shaft X. (Plate IV.). — This shaft may, perhaps, have been 
started by prehistoric man as two distinct pits. Its double 
bottom was in the form of an elongated 8, the two halves, 
small and of oval outline, being divided by a ridge of chalk 
9ins. high. The top of the division between this shaft and 
No. XI. was only 8ft. above the bottom of the former. 

The upper part of the filling of this shaft and No. XI. was 
crossed by a concave seam of mould about an inch thick, the 
depth of which varied from 8- 4ft. to ll-2ft. It was important 
to note this, because fragmentary human remains (Nos. 305 
and 306) were found in rammed chalk on the level of this 
seam or just above it ; and there seems to be no evidence 
for regarding the bones as prehistoric. 

The " finds " in this shaft were few, but of great interest. 
Two antler picks were met with at 15ft. and 22ft. At a 
depth of 14- 5ft. the base of a red-deer's skull with antlers 
attached (No. 307) was found tight against the wall of the 
shaft ; after being cleared it was photographed in situ (Plate 
II.). The antler complete measures 38in. in length, and is 
surmounted by a crown of four points ; the brow-tine is 
14in, long, and the bez and trez each 13in. ; the circum- 
ference of the antler above the burr is 220mm. (8|in.). 



Pl.ATK V. 




MAUMBURY RINGS, DORCHESTER, 1912. Cl'TTING XXI. j 

SHAFTS IX, X AND XI, AND MARGIN OF ARENA FLOOR. 

(Full Title given at the beginning of the Repoif.) ; 

From a Phofogitify/i by Mr. H. St. George Gray.'. 



EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 103 

A somewhat remarkable carving in chalk was found in the 
filling, 15ft. deep, and perhaps affords further evidence of 
phallicism in early prehistoric times. This object differs 
from the chalk carving of the male organ found by Canon 
Greenwell, F.R.S., in the Grime's Graves (Brit. Mus.) * in 
being much larger, with a diameter of 2 Jin. 

Several flint flakes were noticed here and in Shaft XI., 
especially in the upper three-quarters of the filling. The 
nodules of flint were fairly numerous, and all appear to have 
been tested as to their quality. Some of the blocks of chalk 
in the filling were very large. 

Shaft XI. (Plate V.). — This large pit was cleared out only 
at the W.S.W. end. The bottom was trench-like and only 
l-2ft. wide ; the termination to a height of 5- 5ft. had a 
nearly upright even face. Thin seams of mould were noticed 
in the filling (Plate V.). 

No less than thirteen antler picks, some damaged, were 
found between 8-25ft. and 28ft., and five of them bear marks 
of fire, the handle-end of one being much burnt. Two 
crowns of antlers were also found, and an excellent antler 
rake of three points. Portions of three red-deer skulls were 
also met with, and a worked piece of rib-bone (ox or horse) 
was obtained. 

At a depth of 10ft. a rough chalk ball (3Jin. diam.), and 
another piece, cheese-shaped (SJin. diam.), were found. 
At the same level a fragment of rude pottery (No. 314) was 
disco vered— undoubtedly prehistoric . 

General Remarks on the Shafts {see also Introductory 
Remarks) : — The flint occurring in such thin seams and being 
of such poor quality sustains the only tenable theory that 
these shafts were sunk in search of better material ; for no 



* Described by Canon Greenwell in a paper that he read to the 
Ethnological Society, 27 June, 1870 {Journal, II., 430). See also 
Archaeologia, LXIII., 118. 



104 EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 

flint nodules were found thrown away in the filling which 
would have been of any value to the flint-knapper. Indeed, 
all the nodules remaining — and they are by no means plentiful 
— appear to have been " tried," i.e., struck by the hand of 
man, and being found unsuitable for implement-making were 
discarded. There can be little doubt that these shafts were 
filled in to the top, or almost to the top, at one time, judging 
from the fact that the chalk rubble — which for the most part 
is large — is found on re-excavation to be very loosely 
compacted. 

If the shafts at Maumbury are flint-mfnes, why are there 
no galleries of the kind so common at Cissbury and at Grime's 
Graves ? * At Maumbury the pits are in close order, and 
indeed in many cases hardly a foot separates them at the top. 
It is difficult to conceive prehistoric man's reason for digging 
so many shafts if intended for mines, as one or two would 
have sufficed to test the quality and quantity of the flint ; 
the material of course abounds in Dorset, though the best 
qualities are in some places not easily obtainable. If, in any 
of these shafts, flint of the desired quality had been found, he 
might then have cut galleries, and the trial-shafts would 
have become mines. 



VI. — Animal Bones. 

All the bones and fragments found in the Prehistoric 
Shafts at Maumbury have been preserved ; also a selection 
from the Roman deposits. The greater number of those 
found in 1912 have been kindly identified by Mr. E. T. 



* A paper by Mr. Reginald A. Smith, F.S.A., has recently been 
pubUshed on " The Date of Grime's Graves and Cissbury Flint- 
Mines," where a resume of the records of the various excavations 
which have been conducted at these places is given {Archaeologia, 
LXIIL, 109-158). 



EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 105 

Newton, F.R.S. The following are the most interesting, all 
found in Cutting XXI. : — * 

From the Roman Deposits — 

Horse (a metatarsus giving height of 12 hands Sin. at shoulder — 

size of New Forest pony). 
Ox (a radius giving height of 3ft. 5|in. — size' of. modern Kerry Cow). 
Shee2D, or Goat. 
Fox {Canis vulpes). 
Badger {Meles taxus). 
Polecat (Mustela putorius) — large size ; skull and nearly complete 

skeleton. 
Water Vole {Microtus amphibius). 
Rook, or Crow. 

From Shaft IX. (total depth of shaft below arena turf, 
28-5ft.). 

At 20 feet deep. 

Toad (Bufo vulgaris) — large size. 
Bank Vole {Evotomys glareolus). 
Field Vole (Microtus agrestis). 

At 23-24 feet deep. 
Pig [Sus scrofa) — may be wild Boar. 

At 26 feet deep. 
Part of rib of Horse or Ox, and other fragmentary remains. 

From Shaft XI. (total depth of shaft below arena turf, 
28ft.). 

Fragmentary remains of Horse and Ox in rammed chalk at the top of 
the shaft. 

At 10 feet deep. 
Red-deer (Cervus elaphus). 

At 15 feet and 17 feet deep. 
Pig (Sus scrofa) — may be wild Boar. 

At bottom of Shaft, 
Field Vole (Microtus agrestis) — part of two skeletons. 

* This list does not include worked animal bones, red-deer skulls, 
antlers, or picks, bearing special numbers. 



106 EXCAVATIONS AT MAUMBURY RINGS. 

At depths not recorded. 

Dog (Canis familiaris) — larger than fox. 

Toad (Bufo vulgaris) — large size, as in Shaft IX. 



VII.— Woods. 

The most interesting specimens of decayed and carbonized 
wood found at Maumbury in 1912 were sent to Mr. Clement 
Reid, F.R.S., for examination ; he has kindly reported as 

follows : — 

Cutting XXI. — 

In Roman Deposits. — Oak charcoal. 

Specimen from post-hole. — Indeterminable. 

Charred wood found in burnt area against the heap of stones at the south 

end of the cutting. — Hazel. 
In Shaft IX., with bones. — Hazel (?). 
In Shaft IX., depth 20 feet. — Oak charcoal. 
Frofn bottom of rammed chalk over Shaft XI. — Apparently fragments of 

root — perhaps oak. 

Cutting XXVII.— 

Wood on Iron Nails found near Human Skeleton. — Not determinable, 
but resembles oak. 

VIII. — Shells. 

Messrs. W. Denison Roebuck, F.L.S., and John W. Taylor, 
of Leeds, have kindly examined the shells found at Maumbury 
this season. 

They report that the Roman deposit yielded Helix aspersa (typical) 
and several H. nemoralis, of which two were especially conical in form, 
and one of these very solid in substance. A mass of shells, chalk, and 
mould from the surface of the rammed chalk Roman work in Cutting 
XXI., having been carefully washed, yielded several H. itala var. 
minor, numerous Hygromia hispida var. concinna, and Pupa muscorum ; 
also a couple of Vallonia pulchella. From Prehistoric Shaft IX., 
depth 20 feet, were a fine Helicella itala with the upper band very high, 
and two with contracted utnbilicus approaching the Continental 
European H. obvia. 



Plate A. 

Proc.Dorset, N.H.d-A. F. Cluh, Vol. XXXIV. 




25. 24. ^J^ 22./ 



0. Pickard-Caratridje. del! MTarlanc &Ei:skint, LittEdin 

NEW AND RARE ARACHNIDA. 



DESCRIPTION OF PLATE. 



Fig. 1. Agroeca diversa, sp.n. female. 1. Abdomen. 2. Genital 
aperture. 3. Ditto, from another specimen. 

„ 4. Leptyphantes inaignis, sp.n. male. 4. Profile. 5. Cephalo- 
thorax. 6. Palpus. 

„ 7. Oongylidiellum incertuni, sp.n. female. 7. Upper side. 8. 
Profile of cephalothorax. 9. Genital aperture. 

„ 18. Entelecara errata, sp.n. male. 18. Profile of cephalothorax. 
19. Upper side of ditto. 20. Right palpus. 21. Left 
ditto. 

,, 10. Collinsia notahilis, sp.n. male. 10. Cephalothorax. 11. Pro- 
file of ditto. 12. Eyes from above and behind. 13. 
Palpus from outer side. 14. Ditto, showing form of 
digital joint of palpus. 15, 16. Radial joint of palpus, 
in two positions. 17. One of the falces showing the 
single tooth. 

,, 22. Calyptostoma Hardii, Cambr. 22. Showing mouth parts. 
23. Ditto in profile. 24. Genital aperture. 25. Anal 
ditto. 



I 



^n jHctD anti Hare ^rxtisl) ;^rai:l)nxtia 

Noted and Observed in 1912. 



By the Rev. 0. PICKARD-CAMBRIDGE, M.A., F.R.S., &c. 



With Plate. 




a^M^^i- 



past year (1912) has brought me a fair 
number of additions to our British List of 
Spiders (Araneidea). 1 wish I could say 
that my own personal efforts had had a 
greater share in producing these results ; 
but these have been made mainly possible 
by the continued kind help and exertions 
of my correspondents, both friends and 
relations. To all who have so contributed 
during the past year I am again now indebted, as well as to 
some others (and amongst these I must specially add the 
name of a valuable Dorset correspondent — Dr. Haines, of 
Winfrith), whose collections, though containing no novelties, 
yet by many rare and local forms bore testimony not only to 
their kindness to me but to their efforts to add to our know- 
ledge of this comparatively neglected group of animals. 
The names of those who have added to our List species new to 



108 ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNIDA. 

science, or other species not 'previously known to the British 
Fauna, will be specially mentioned in the course of the 
following List ; but I may here note the names of such species 
and that of their finders. The species considered to be new 
to science are nine. 

Zora letifera (Falconer), found by Mr. W. Falconer and 
Dr. A. R. Jackson in Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire ; Agroeca 
diversa, Bloxworth Heath, taken by one of my sons (A. E. 
LI. P.-C.) ; Leptyphantes insignis, also found (by A. E. LI. 
P.-C.) in one of the Bloxworth Woods ; Leptyphantes moratus 
(Hull), found by the Rev. J. E. Hull at Forres, N.B. ; 
Microneta ( Agyneta) ramosa, Jackson, found by Dr. Jackson 
in the New Forest, and Delamere Forest, Cheshire ; 
Gongylidiellum incertum, taken by Mr. Horace Donisthorpe 
at Nethy Bridge, Scotland ; CoUinsia notabilis, taken by 
Mr. J. Collins (University Museum, Oxford) at Tubney, 
Berkshire.; Entelecara errata, found at Penrith, Cumberland, 
by Dr. Jackson ; and Neon valentulus (Falconer), taken by 
Mr. Falconer and Dr. Jackson in Wicken Fen ! Besides the 
above, a very distinct and interesting species, new to Britain, 
has been sent to me from Wicken Fen, by both Mr. Falconer 
and Dr. Jackson — Maso gallica (Simon). The above species 
are all noted and described more fully in the following List 
and Supplement, p. 130. 

If any of our readers should wish for further information 
on the General Subject, reference may be made to the follow- 
ing publications, by the author : — 

" Spiders of Dorset,'" published by the Dorset Natural 
History and Antiquarian Field Club, 1879 — 1881, and 
Supplemental Papers in most of the subsequent years to the 
present date. 

" List of British and Irish Spiders " (Sime and Co., Dor- 
chester, 1900). 

" British Phalangidea or Harvest Men " (Dors. F. C. 
Proceedings, Vol. XL, 1890). 

" British Chernetidea or False Scorpions " (I.e. Vol. XIIL, 
1892). 



ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNIDA. 109 

Since the publication of my last report in Vol. XXXIII. 
of our Proceedings, or previously omitted, the following 
Papers on British Arachnida have appeared : — 

" On Some Rare Arachnids captured during 1907," 
A. Randell Jackson, M.B., M.Sc, Transactions Nat. Hist, of 
Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, n.s. 
Vol. III., part I., pp. (sep. cop.) 1-30, pi. IV. 

" On Some Rare Arachnids obtained during 1908," 
A. Randell Jackson, M.B., M.Sc, Trans. Nat. Hist, of 
Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, n.s. 
Vol. III., part 2, pp. (sep. cop.) 1-24, pi. X. 

" On the British Spiders of the Genus Microneta," A. 
Randell Jackson, M.B.,. Sc, Trans. Nat. Hist. Northumber- 
land, Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, n.s. Vol. IV., 
pp. 117-142, pi. VII., VIII. (a valuable and important paper 
which I have not yet been able to examine thoroughly). 

" A New Spider — Leptyphantes moratus (n. sp.)," Rev. J . 
E. Hull, M.A., "Scottish Naturalist," February, 1912, 
pp. 40-42, with woodcut figs. 

" Allendale Spiders," Rev. J. E. Hull, M.A., Trans. 
Nat. Hist. Soc. Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne, n.s. Vol. III., part I., pp. (sep. cop.) 1-8, pi. V. 

" Yorkshire Arachnida in 1911," William Falconer, 
Slaithwaite, near Huddersfield, " Naturalist," Feb. 1, 1912, 
pp. 52-54. 

" Airedale and Wharf edale Area " (Yorkshire), W. P. 
Winter, " Naturalist," February 1, 1912, p. 54 (notes some 
additions to a former list, of 29 spiders and 1 Pseudo- 
Scorpion). 

" The Spiders of Wicken, Cambridge," William Falconer, 
" Naturalist," October, 1912, pp. 310-324, pi. XV. (Contains 
a list of species, and descriptions of two new to science and 
one new to Great Britain.) 

" Chernes cyrneus in Nottinghamshire, a recent addition 
to the known False Scorpions of Britain," H. Wallis Kew. 
54th Report and Transactions of the Nottingham Naturalists" 
Society for 1905-1906, pp. 41-46, pi. V. 



110 ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNIDA. 

" Notes on the Irish False Scorpions in the National 
Museum of Ireland," H. Wallis Kew, " Irish Naturalist," 
December, 1909, pp. 249-250. 

" A Holiday in South- Western Ireland. Notes on some 
False Scorpions and other animals observed in the counties 
of Kerry and Cork," H. Wallis Kew, " Irish Naturalist," 
April, 1910, pp. 64-73. 

" The False Scorpions of Scotland," Robert Godfrey, 
" Annals of Scottish Natural History," April and July, 1908, 
p. 91 and 155-161 ; January and July, 1909, pp. 22-26 and 
153-163 ; January, 1910, pp. 23, 33. 

It only remains for me to add my kindest thanks to all 
who have in any way assisted me during the past year. 



ARACHNIDA. 

ARANEIDEA. 

Fam. THERAPHOSID^. 

Atypus af finis, Eichw. 

Atypus affinis, Eichw. -Cambr., Dors. N. H. 

and A. F. Club, Vol. XXIX., p. 166 ; and 

XXXI., p. 49. 

An adult male, found wandering on the heath at 

Worgret, near Wareham, was sent to me by Dr. Haines, 

of Winfrith, in February, 1912. 

Fam. DRASSID^. 

Drassus pubescens, Thor. 

Drassus pubescens, Thor.-Cambr., Spid. Dors., 
p. 20. 
Adults of both sexes were taken on Bloxworth Heath 
by A. E. LI. P.-C. in May, 1912. Mr. W. Falconer also 



ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNID A. Ill 

records it from Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire, in June, 
1912 (" Naturalist," October, 1912, p. 311). 

Phaeocedus braccatus, L. Koch. 

Drassus braccatus, L. Koch.-Cambr., Spid. 

Dors., p. 570. 
Drassus bulbifer, Cambr., Spid. Dors., p. 18. 
An immature male and females from Bindon, and 
adults underneath bits of slate at Kingstead, early in 
July, 1912, were found and sent to me by Dr. Haines. 
This is still one of our rarest and most distinctly marked 
of the British Drassidae. 

Prosthesima pedestris, C. L. Koch. 

Prosthesima pedestris, C L. Koch-Cambr., 
^ V- Spid. Dors., p. 15. 

Females, found and sent to me from Ringstead by 
Dr. Haines early in July, 1912. 

Clubiona caerulescens, L. Koch. 

Clubiona ccerulescens , L. Koch-Cambr. Spid., 

Dors., p. 29 ; and British and Irish Spid., p. 11. 

Adult males, found in Coombe Wood, Winfrith, were 

received from Dr. Haines in May and July, 1912. It is 

one of the most distinctly characterised, as well as the 

rarest, of the genus in Great Britain. 

Zora letifera, Falconer. 

Zora letifera. Falconer, " Naturalist," October, 
1912, pp. 312, 317, pi. XV., figs. 1-4. 
Adults of both sexes, new to science, were found at 
Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire, by Mr. W. Falconer in 
June, 1912. It is nearly allied to Zora maculata, BL, 
but differs in both structure and markings. (For a more 
detailed description, see postea, p. 130.) 



112 ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNID A. 

Agroeca proxima, Cambr. 

Agroeca proxima, Cambr., Spid. Dors., p. 36, 

and Proc. Dors. F. Club, Vol. VII., pi. IV., 

fig. 4a. (In the description of pi. IV., in loco, 

figures a and b should be reversed.) 

This spider was abundant on Blox worth and adjoining 

heaths in late summer of 1912. An hermaphrodite 

example of it was taken by A. E. LI. P.-C. on Blox worth 

Heath on October 12th. 



Agroeca inopina, Cambr. 

Agroeca inopina, Cambr., Proc. Dors. F. Club, 
Vol. XVI., p. 101. 
Numerous in the same localities and at the same time 
as A. proxima, C&inhr. 

Agroeca celans, Bl. 

Agelena celans, BL, Spid. G. B. I., p. 161. 
Liocranum celans, Bl. -Cambr., Spid. Dors., 
p. 41. 
This very distinct species, which had hitherto been 
very rarely met with at Blox worth, was found in some 
abundance and at the same time, and in the same 
localities, by A. E. LI. P.-C. and W. A. P.-C. as the two 
foregoing species. It appears to be more abundant in 
the North of England. 

Agroeca gracilipes, Bl. 

Agelena gracilipes, Bl. -Cambr., Spid. Dors., 

p. 39. Liocranum gracilipes, Bl. -Cambr., 

Spid. Dors., p. 162. 

Numerous on Bloxworth and other adjoining heaths, 

and at the same time as three foregoing species, by 

A. E. LI. P.-C. and W. A. P.-C. 



ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNID A. 113 

Agroeca diversa, sp.n. Figs. 1, 2, 3. 

Two adult females of an Agroeca, closely allied to 
A. gracilipes, Blackw., were found by A. E. LI. P.-C. 
on Blox worth Heath at the end of the summer of 1912. 
In size, general structure, and character these are very 
like A. gracilipes, but the striking dissimilarity in colour 
and markings, as well as some small structural differences, 
lead me to believe them to be of a different species. 
(For a detailed description see postea, p. 130) 



Fam. THERIDIID^. 



Theridion impressum, L. Koch. 

Theridion impressum, L. Koch-Cambr., Proc. 
Dors. F. Club, XXIV., pp. 152, 162, pi. A, 
fig. I., and Vol. XXVI., p. 45. 
An adult male of this interesting species was taken on 
the lawn railings at Bloxworth Rectory on the 5th of 
July, 1912, by the Rev. R. J. Pickard-Cambridge ; and 
I found one of the same sex among some hitherto over- 
looked spiders taken many years ago by myself at 
Bloxworth. 



Theridion familiare, Cambr. 

Theridion familiare, Cambr., Spid. Dors., p. 86 ; 

Proc. Dors. F. Club, XX. p. 6, and XXIII., 

p. 20. 

A female adult was taken among herbage in Bere Wood 

by A. E. LI. P.-C. on the 17th of October, 1912. This is 

the first instance known to me of the occurrence of this 

species in any other situation than in old buildings and 

unused rooms. 



114 ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNID A. 

Laseola prona, Menge. 

Euryopis prona, Menge-Cambr., Spid. Dors., 

p. 481. 
Laseola jucunda, Cambr., Proc. Dors. F. Club, 
Vol. XXIV., pp. 152, 162, pi. A., fig. 3, 1903, 
Vol. XXVIII., p. 125, pi. A, figs. 13, 14, 15 
(1907), and Vol. XXIX., p. 170 (1908). 
An adult male was brought to me from Bloxworth 
Heath on May 11, 1912, by A. E. LI. P.-C. 

Crustulina sticta, Cambr. 

Steatoda sticta, Cambr., Spid. Dors., p. 97, and 

Proc. Dors. F. Club, XVIII. , p. 111. 

Theridion stictum, Cambr. -Bl., Spid. G.B.I., 
p. 196. 
Several of each sex Avere found in Wicken Fen by Dr. 

Jackson and Mr. W. Falconer early in June, 1912 — 
" Naturalist," October, 1912, p. 313. 

Linyphia peltata, Wid. 

Linypliia peltata, Wid. -Cambr., Spid. Dors., 

p. 229. 
Leptyphantes nigrescens, Cambr., Proc. Dors. F. 

Club, XXXIII., pp. 75, 90, pi. A, figs. 11, 

13. 
The examination of some additional examples of 
L. nigrescens, including adult females and immature 
males, has convinced me that L. nigrescens, Cambr. 
(I.e.) is a melanic form of Linyphia peltata, Wid. I have 
found in Dorsetshire, Hampshire, and some other 
counties the normal form of L. p)eltata in fair abundance, 
but until now have never seen this melanic form of it. 
Mr. L. A. Carr, however, seems to have met with it 
commonly in Staffordshire, and to have suspected its 
identity with L. p)dtata, Wid. 



ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNIDA. 115 

Taranucnus setosus, Cambr. 

LinypJiia setosa, Cambr., Spid. Dors., p. 191. 
Mr. W. Falconer ('•' Naturalist," October, 1912, p. 313) 
records both sexes from Wicken Fen in June, 1912. 

Leptyphantes moratus, Hull. 

Leptyphantes moraius, Hull, " Scottish Natur- 
alist," February, 1912, p. 40. 
An adult female, taken at Forres, N.B., in August, 1911, 
and described and figured as a sp. no v. I.e. supra. I 
have not myself seen this specimen. 

Leptyphantes insignis, sp.n. Figs. 4, 5, 6. 

An adult male, of what appears to me a very distinct 
species of this genus, and hitherto itndescribed, was 
found by A. E. LI. P.-C. on the 18th of May, 1912, among 
herbage in a wood at Blox worth. (For detailed descrip- 
tion see postea p. 131.) 

Leptyphantes ericaeus, Bl. 

Linyphia ericcea, Bl. -Cambr., Spid. Dors., p. 201. 
BL, Sp. G.B.I., p. 287. 
An adult male, found near Oxford by W. A. P.-C, and 
new to that county, in 1912. 

Leptyphantes pallidus, Cambr. 

Linyphia pallida, Cambr., Spid. Dor., p. 216. 
Adult females found near Oxford by W. A. P.-C. in 
1912, and new to that county. 

Microneta beata, Cambr. 

Microneta beata, Cambr., Proc. Dors. F. Club, 

Vol. XXVII., pp. 77, 190, pi. A, figs. 27-31 

(1900). 

An adult example of each sex, taken on Blox worth 

Heath, September 1, 1912, by W. A. P.-C. This is its 



116 ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNIDA. 

first record in Dorset. It is allied to the common M. 
rurestris, C. L. Koch. 

Microneta (Agyneta) ramosa, Jackson. 

Agyneta ramosa, Jackson, Trans. Nat. Hist. 
Soc, Northumberland, Durham, and New- 
castle-upon-Tyne (n.s.). Vol. IV., p. 139, 
pi. VIII., figs. 6, 6a, 6b. 
Males are recorded by Dr. Jackson from the New 
Forest and from the Forest of Delamere, Cheshire. 
I have not yet myself seen this species, which appears to 
be a good one. 

Microneta innotabilis, Cambr. 

Neriene innrAabilis, Cambr., Spid. Dors., p. 131. 
An adult female found by W. A. P.-C. in 1912, near 
Oxford, and new to that county. 

Sintula cornigera, Bl. 

Neriene cornigera, Bl., Spid. G.B.I., p. 273. 

,, ,, Cambr., Spid. Dors., p. 430. 

Neriene indecora, Cambr., Proc. Dors. F. Club, 

Vol. XIV., p. 156, fig. 7. 
Sintula cornigera, Bl. -Cambr., Proc. Dors. F. 
Club, XX., p. 9 ; XXIV., p. 154 (1903) ; and 
XXXII., p. 39 (1911). 
An adult male of this rare and curious spider was 
taken by A. E. LI. P.-C. on Bloxworth Heath on October 
12th, 1912. 

Tmeticus concinnus, Thor. 

Tmeticus concinnus, Thor. -Cambr., Proc. Dors. 
F. Club, Vol. VII., p. 74, and Vol. XXIX., 
p. 173 (1908). 
Adult males were taken on Bloxworth Heath October 
12th, 1911, by A. E. LI. P.-C. 



ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNID A. 117 

Maso gallica, Sim. 

Maso SundevalUi, Westr. -Simon, Arachnides de 
France, V., p. 862. 

,, gallica, Sim. Falconer, " Naturalist," 
October, 1912, pp. 313, 320. 
Both sexes were obtained by Dr. Jackson and Mr. 
Falconer in Wicken Fen in June, 1912. It is a very 
distinct little species, and had not been before recorded 
as British. (Further particulars are added postea, 
p. 132). 

Gongylidium retusum, Westr. 

Nerieyie retusa, Westr. -Cambr., Spid. Dors., 

p. 116. 

,, elevata, Cambr., Zoologist, 1862, p. 7966. 

Examples of this spider, always of great rarity hitherto 

in Dorsetshire, were taken on iron railings on the lawn at 

Bloxworth Rectory in June, 1912, by the Rev. R. J. 

Pickard-Cambridge and A. E. LI. P.-C. 

Gongylidiellum murcidum, Sim. 

Gongylidiellum murcidum, Sim. -Cambr., Proc. 

Dors. F. Club, Vol. XVI., pp. 105, 125, and 

Vol. XXX., p. 105. 

Dr. Jackson and Mr. Falconer met with this rare 

spider in some abundance in Wicken Fen in June, 1912. 

(" Naturalist," October, 1912, p. 314.) The New Forest 

and Wicken Fen appear to be as yet the only known 

localities in which it has been found. It is probably a 

marsh-loving species, and would be found in other 

similar localities yet unsearched. 

(?) Gongylidiellum incertum, sp.n. Figs. 7, 8, 9. 

A very distinct female spider, sent to me from Nethy 
Bridge, Scotland, by Mr. H. Donisthorpe in May, 1912. 
It appears to me to be of an undescribed species, and to 



118 ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNIDA. 

belong to the genus Gongylidiellum ; though whether 
this generic position is its true one I do not yet feel 
certain. (For full description see postea, p. 133.) 

Erigone atra, Bl. 

Erigo7ie atra, Bl.-Cambr., Spid. Dors., p. 106. 
Neriene longipalpis, Sund.-Blackw., Spid. 

G. B. and I., p. 174. 
Hillhousia desolans, F. 0. P.-C, Ann. & Mag., 
N.H., ser. 6, Vol. XIII., Janry. 1894, p. 89, 
PI. I., Fig. 4. 
The genus Hillhousia was based on examples which 
turn out to be Erigone atra, Bl. 

Lophomma herbigrada, Bl. 

Neriene herbigrada, Bl.-Cambr., Spid. Dors., 
pp. 113, 576. 

,, exhilarans, Cambr., Ann. Mag., 
N.H., ser. 5, Vol. 4, p. 199, pi. XII., 
fig. 3. 
An adult male was found by W. A. P.-C, near Oxford, 
in 1912. It is new to that county. 

Lophomma subaequale, Westr. 

Lophomma subcequale, Westr. -Cambr., Proc. 
Dors. F. Club, Vol. XXVI., p. 50, pi. 3, 
fig. 10 (1905). 
Walckenaera subcequale, Westr. -Cambr., Spid. 
Dors., p. 501. 

,, fortuita, Cambr., Trans. Linn. Soc, 

Vol. 27, p. 452. 
Tapinocyba subcequalis, Westr. -Cambr., Proc. 
Dors. F. Club., XXIII., p. 26 (1902). 
A single male, found by Dr. Jackson in Wicken 
Fen in June, 1912. (" Naturalist," October, 1912, 
p. 314.) 



ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNIDA. 119 

Entelecara trifrons, Cambr. 

Walckenaera trifrons, Cambr., Spid. Dors., p. 
166, and Proc. Dors. F. Club, Vol. X., 
p. 132. 
Entelecara trifrons, Cambr., Proc. Dors. F. 
Club, XXIV., p. 156. 
Found not rarely by Dr. Jackson and Mr. Falconer in 
Wicken Fen in June, 1912. (" Naturalist," October, 
1912, p. 314.) 

Entelecara omissa, Cambr. 

Entelecara omissa, Cambr., British and Irish 

Spiders, p. 75 (1900). Proc. Dors. F. Club, 

XXIIL, pp. 24, 33 (1902), and Vol. XXIV., 

pi. A, figs. 10, 10a, 106, 10c (1903). The 

fig. of the female {lOd) is that of the next 

species. 

Found abundantly by Dr. Jackson and Mr. Falconer 

in its original locality, Wicken Fen, in June, 1912. 

(" Naturalist," October, 1912, p. 314.) 

Entelecara errata, sp.n. Figs. 18, 19, 20, 21. 

Entelecara omissa, Cambr., Proc. Dors. F. Club, 

Vol. XXIV., pp. 149, 156 and postea, and 167, 

pi. A, fig. lOd.) (1903). The other figs, in 

pi. A are E. omissa, Cambr. 

The occurrence in plenty of Entelecara omissa, Cambr. 

in Wicken Fen has enabled me to compare that species 

more fully with the examples taken in Cumberland by 

Dr. Jackson on the top of Scafell Pike and Bowfell, and 

supposed at the time to be those of Entelecara omissa, 

Cambr. We have now concluded that, though nearly 

allied, the Cumberland examples are of a different 

species. (For a description of which see postea, 

p. 134.) 



120 ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNIDA. 

Entelecara flavipes, Bl. 

Walckenaera flavipes, Bl.-Cambr. Spids. Dors., 
pp. 559, 577. Blackw. Spid. G.B.I., p. 898. 
Entelecara flavipes, Cambr., Proc. Dors. F. 
Club, Vol. XVII., p. 59, and XXIII., p. 24. 
Although occasionally this little spider turns up 
locally in greater numbers, it is still generally rare. An 
adult male was sent to me in June, 1912, from Winfrith, 
by Dr. Haines, and one was also taken on the railings of 
the lawn at Bloxworth Rectory by the Rev. R. J. 
P.-C. in the same month. 

Baryphyma pratensis, Bl. 

Walckenaera pratensis, Bl.-Cambr., Spid. Dors., 

p. 502. 
BL, Spid. G.B.I. , p. 306. 
,, Meadii, Cambr., Proc. Dors. F. C, 

Vol. X., p. 13 ; Vol. XII., p. 95. 
Baryphyma pratensis, Bl.-Cambr., Proc. Dors. 
F. C, Vol. XVI., p. 106 ; Vol. XVII., p. 59 ; 
Vol. XX., p. 7 ; Vol. XXIV., p. 159 ; and 
Vol. XXVL, p. 53 (1905). 
Baryphyma Schlickii, Simon (Cambr.) ; 
Araneides de France, V., p. 695. 
Two adult males were sent to me in 1912 from Yarnton, 
Oxfordshire, by Mrl J. Collins. This is its first record 
from that county. It was also found in Wicken Fen 
many years ago by Mr. W. Farren and F. 0. P. -Cambridge. 

Gen. nov. COLLINSIA. 

(For Generic Characters, etc., see p. 135, postea.) 

Collinsia notabilis, sp.n. Figs. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. 

Not being able to allocate this very distinct little spider 
at present to any established genus, I have tentatively 



ON NEW AND RAEE BRITISH ARACHNIDA. 121 

formed a new one for it. It seems to be allied to 
Gongylidiellum ; (for further particular description see 
postea p. 136) an adult male was found by Mr. J. Collins, of 
the Oxford University Museum, at Tubney, in Berkshire, 
and sent to me by him in May, 1912. 

Araaeoncus humilis, Bl. 

Walckenaera, Bl.-Cambr., Spid. Dors., p. 150. 
An adult male was found on the lawn railings at 
Bloxworth Rectory by the Rev. R. J. P.-C. in June, 1912. 
It appears to be still a rare spider in Dorsetshire. 

Wideria fugax, Cambr. 

Neriene fugax, Cambr., Spid. Dors., p. 121 ; 
Proc. Dors. F. Club, XIV., p. 153. 
An adult male found by A. E. LI. P.-C. in Bere Wood 
on Nov. 7th, 1912. It is still an exceedingly rare 
spider. 

Ceratinella scabrosa, Cambr. 

Walckenaera scabrosa, Cambr., Spid. Dors., 
p. 143. 
An adult male found in the shrubbery, Bloxworth 
Rectory, in May, 1912, by A. E. LI. P.-C. It is still a 
species of rare occurrence. 

Ceratinella brevipes, Westr. 

Walckenaera brevipes, Westr. -Cambr. Spid. 
Dors., p. 143. 
An adult male found on the Lawn Railmgs at Blox- 
worth Rectory on June 23rd, 1912, by the Rev. R. J. 
Pickard-Cambridge. This, like the foregoing species, is 
also of rare occurrence. 



122 ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNIDA. 

Fam. MIMETIDiE. 

Ero tuberculata, DeGeer. 

Ero tuberculata, DeGeer-Carabr., Spid. Dors., 

pp. 335, 580 ; Proc. Dors. F. Club, XVIII., 

pi. A, fig. 6, and XXXII., p. 42 (1911). 

Both sexes, adult and immature, found on the heath 

near Trigon Hill in September, 1912, by A. E. LI. P.-C. 

and W. A. P.-C. It is still a very rare and local species. 



Fam. EPEIRIDffi. 



Singa hamata, Clerck. 

Epeira tubulosa, Walck. -Black w., Spid. G.B.I. , 

p. 364. 
Si7iga hamata, Clk.-Cambr., Spid. Dors., p. 248, 
and Proc. Dors. F. Club, XXXI., p. 60 
(1910). 
Adult males sent to me b}^ Mr. J. Collins from Tubney, 
Berkshire, in 1912. 



Singa pygmaea, Sund. 

Epeira anthracina, BL, Spid. G.B.I., p. 357, 

pi. XXVIL, fig. 257. 
Epeira Herii, BL, I.e. pi. XXVII., fig. 264 

(exclude description at p. 466). 
Singa pygmcea, Sund.-Cambr., Spid. Dors., p. 
249, Proc. Dors. F. Club, XXIII., p. 28, 1902, 
and XXVI., p. 54, 1905. 
An adult female received from Mr. J. Collins, by whom 
it was found at Cothill, in Berkshire, in 1912 ; and also 
received, in 1912, from Dr. Haines, Winfrith. 



ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNIDA. 123 

Singa sanguinea, C. L. Koch. 

Singa sanguinea, C. L. Koch-Cambr., Spid. Dors., 
p. 251 ; Proc. Dors. F. Club, Vol. XXIII., 
p. 28 ; Vol. XXX., p. 108 ; XXXI., p. 61 ; 
and XXXII., p. 42. 
Epeira Herii, Hahn-BL, Spid. G.B.I., p. 366 
(exclude pi. XXVII., fig. 264). 
An adult female received from Dr. Haines, Winfrith, 
in 1912. 

Singa Herii, Hahn. 

Singa Herii, Hahn-Cambr., Proc. Dors. F. Club, 
XIV., p. 160, fig. 5, and XXXI., p. 61 (1910). 
An adult male was taken at Wicken Fen by Dr. 
Jackson in June, 1912, " Naturalist," October, 1912, 
p. 315. This locality is the only one from which this 
very rare spider has hitherto been recorded in Great 
Britain. 

Epeira Westringii, Thor. 

Epeira Westringii, Thor.-Cambr., Spid. Dors., 
p. 260. 
An adult male found at Witham, Berkshire ; sent to 
me in 1912 by Mr. J. Collins, University Museum, Oxford. 



Fam. THOMISIDJE. 

Thomisus onustus, Walck. 

Tliomisus onustus, Walck Cambr., Spid. Dors., 

p. 188 ; and Proc. Dors. F. Club, XXI., p. 25, 

and XXIII. , p. 28 (1902). 

A rare and local spider found in the blooms of various 

plants on heaths. Immature females sent to me from 

the district of Winfrith in June, 1912, by Dr. Haines. 



124 ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNID A. 

Oxyptila sanctuaria, Cambr. 

Oxyptila sanctuaria, Cambr., Spid. Dors., p. 319 ; 
Proc. Dors. F. Club, Vol. VI., p. 10 ; XIV., 
p. 161 ; XV., p. 114 ; XX., p. 11 ; XXXII., 

p. 44. 
On the wall of Bloxworth Rectory I found an 
adult male on the 24th of August, 1912, remarkable for 
its exceedingly minute size. It is a rare and local species. 

Oxyptila Blackwallii, Sim. 

Both sexes, but the males immature, were received 
from Dr. Haines, by whom they were found at West 
Lul worth in July, 1912. It is a rare species, and appears 
to be confined to the sea coast, beneath stones and 
among dwarf herbage. 

Tibellus maritimus, Menge. 

Tibellus oblongus, Kulcz., Aran. Hungarise, 

p. 115, Tab. IV., fig. 28. 
Thanatus oblongus, Menge (female), Preussische 

Spinnen, p. 396, Tab. 224, fig. 3. 
Tibellus maritimus, Menge-Kulcz. (male), 
Cambr., Proc. Dors. F. Club, XXXII., 
p. 47, pi. A, figs. 28-31 (1911). 
Tibellus oblongus, Walck. -Cambr., Spid. Dors., 
p. 339 (ad partem). 
Both sexes are recorded as abundant in Wicken Fen 
by Dr. Jackson and Mr. Falconer in June, 1912. 
(" Naturalist," October, 1912, p. 316.) 



Fam. LYCOSIDiE. 

Trochosa spinipalpis, F. 0. P.-Cambr. 

Trochosa spinipalpis, F. 0. P.-Cambr., Ann. 
and Mag. N.H., ser. 6, Vol. XV., p. 28, pi. III., 



ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNIDA. 125 

fig. 4, &c. ; Cambr., Proc. Dors. F. Club, Vol. 

XVI., p. 118 ; Vol. XVII., p. 61 ; and Vol. 

XXVI., p. 55 (1905). 
A male and several females are recorded by Dr. Jackson 
and Mr. Falconer in Wicken Fen, " Naturalist." A very 
rare British spider. 

Lycosa Farrenii, Cambr. 

Lycosa Farrenii, Cambr., Spid. Dors., p. 546. 
Proc. Dors. F. Club, Vol. X., p. 134 ; Vol. 
XXIV., p. 160 ; and Vol. XXIX., p. 182. 

(Further examination makes it certain 
that this species is not identical Avith 
L. ferruginea, L. Koch.) 
Mr. Falconer reports the frequent occurrence of this 

species in the Wicken Fen. (" Naturalist," October, 

1912, p. 316.) 



Fam. SALTICID^. 

Marpessa pomatia, Walck. 

Marpessa pomatia, Walck. -Cambr., Spid. Dors., 

p. 555 ; Proc. Dors. F. Club, Vol. XII., p. 97 ; 

XIV., p. 161; XXIII., p. 29 (1902), and 

XXXI., p. 64 (1910). 

Hyctia prompta, Bl. -Cambr., Proc. Dors. F. 

Club, Vol. X., p. 127. 
Salticus promptus, Bl., Spid. G.B.I., p. 59. 

,, Blackwallii, Clark. Blackw., Spid. 
G.B.I., p. 62. 
Dr. Jackson reports this fine species as numerous, 
spinning in the heads of Arundo phragmitis, and Mr. 
Falconer speaks of it as more occasionally at large 
among vegetation, on the ground, at Wicken Fen in 
June, 1912. (" Naturalist," October, 1912.) 



126 ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNIDA. 

Neon valentulus, Falconer. 

Neon valentulus, Falconer, " Naturalist," 

October, 1912, pp. 317, 321, pi. XV., figs. 

9-12. 

Taken in some abundance at Wicken Fen by Mr. 

Falconer and Dr. Jackson. It is nearly allied to Neon 

reticulatus, Blackw. Mons. Simon believes it to be a 

dark variety of this last species, and identifies it as 

M. obscurus, Sim., var. of reticulatus ; but I cannot find 

it so recorded by M. Simon. From differences found by 

Mr. Falconer between the two forms it appears to be a 

good species. 

Euophrys aequipes, Cambr. 

Euoj)lirys ceguipes, Cambr., Spid. Dors., p. 404 ; 

Proc. Dors. F. Club, p. 134, XVII., p. 113, 

and XXIV., p. 161. 

An adult male found at Ringstead in Jul}^ 1912, and 

sent to me by Dr. Haines. It is a rare and local 

species. 

Attus (Sitticus, Sim.) caricis, Westr. 

Attus caricis, Westr. -Cambr., Spid. Dors., 
p. 563 ; Proc. Dors. F. Club, Vol. X., 
p. 135. 
Dendryphantes hastatus, C. L. Koch-Cambr., 
Proc. Dors. F. Club, Vol. VL, p. 11 ; X., p. 
128 ; and XXL, p. 25 ; and List of British 
and Irish Spiders, p. 71 (1900). 
Dr. Jackson found this spider (a female adult and 
several immature) at Wicken Fen in June, 1912 
(" Naturalist," October, 1912, p. 317) ; and an adult of 
the same sex was sent to me in September, 1912, from 
that locality also, by Mr. J. Collins, of the University 
Museum, Oxford. 



ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNIDA. 127 

Order CHERNETIDEA (False Scorpions). 

Fam. CHELIFERID^. 

Chernes dubius, Cambr. 

Cherries dubius, Cambr., " On the British 

Species of False Scorpions," Proc. Dors. F. 

Club, Vol. XIII., p. 227, pi. C, fig. 19. 

An example of this Arachnid was sent to me from 

Enslow Bridge, Oxford; in 1912, by Mr. J. Collins. This 

is the first record I have received of a species of this Order 

from Oxfordshire. Other examples of this species were 

received also from Mr. Collins, found in an old owl's nest 

in an elm tree at Bradfield, Berkshire. 



Order ACARIDEA. 

Fam. TROMBIDIIDiE. 

Calyptostoma, Hardii. Figs. 22, 23, 24, 25. 

Calyptostoma, Hardii Cambr., Annals and Mag, 

N.H., ser. 4, Vol. XVI., p. 384 (1875), pi. 

XIII., fig. 1, and Andrew Murray, F.L.S., 

" Economic Entomology," Aptera, p. 140, 

with woodcut figures. 

An example of this curious little Acarid was found by 

A. E. LI. P.-C. among dead leaves in Bere Wood on May 

10th, 1912. The figs, given in the plate are from an 

example received Jan. 8th, 1903, from Mr. W. Evans 

(found in Perthshire at a height of 3,500), and in which 

the mouth parts were accidentally protruding. 



128 ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNIDA. 

LIST OF ARACHNIDS 

In the foregoing Pages, with references to Page and Plate. 
Order Araneidea. 



Atypus affinis, Eichw. 


P- 


110 


Drassus pubescens, Thor. 


P- 


110 


Phaeocedus braccatus, C. L. Koch p. 


111 


Prosthesima pedestris, L. Koch 


p. 


111 


Clubiona cserulescens, L. Koch 


P- 


111 


Zora letifera, Falconer 


P- 


111 


Agroeca proxima, Cambr. 


P- 


112 


,, mopina, Cambr. 


P- 


112 


,, celans, Bl. 


P- 


112 


,, gracilipes, Bl. 


P- 


112 


„ diversa, sp.n. 


P- 


113 


Theridion impressum, L, Koch 


P- 


113 


,, familiare, Cambr. 


P- 


113 


Laseola prona, Menge 


P- 


114 


Crustulina sticta, Cambr. 


P- 


114 


Linyphia peltata, Wid. 


P- 


114 


Taranucnus setosus, Cambr. 


P- 


115 


Leptyphantes moratus, Hull 


P- 


115 


,, insignis, sp.n. 


P- 


115 


,, ericseus, Bl. 


p. 


115 


,, pallidum, Cambr. 


P- 


115 


Microneta beata, Cambr. 


P- 


115 


,, (Agyneta) ramosa, 






Jackson 


P- 


116 


,, innotabilis, Cambr. 


P- 


116 


Sintula cornigera, Bl. 


P- 


116 


Tmeticus concinnus, Thor. 


p. 


116 


Maso gallica, Sim. 


P- 


117 


Gongylidium retusum, Westr. 


P- 


117 


Gongylidiellum murcidum, Sim. 


P- 


117 


„ incertum, sp.n. 


P- 


117 



Figs. 1-3. 



Figs. 4-6. 



Figs. 7-9. 



ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNID A. 



129 



Erigone atra, Bl. 


P- 


118 




Lophomma herbigrada, Bl. 


p. 


118 




,, subaequale, Westr. 


p. 


118 




Entelecara trifrons, Cambr. 


p. 


119 




,, omissa, Cambr. 


P- 


119 




,, errata, sp.n. 


p. 


119 


Figs. 18-21. 


,, flavipes, Bl. 


P- 


120 




Baryphyma pratensis, Bl. 


P- 


120 




Collinsia notabilis, sp.n. 


P- 


120 


Figs. 10-17. 


Argeoncus humilis, Bl. 


P- 


121 




Wideria fugax, Cambr. 


P- 


121 




Ceratinella scabrosa, Cambr. 


P- 


121 




,, brevipes, Westr. 


P- 


121 




Ero tuberculata, DeGeer 


P- 


122 




Singa hamata, Clerek. 


P- 


122 




,, pygmsea, Sund. 


P- 


122 




,, sanguinea, C. L. Koch 


P- 


123 




,, Herii, Hahn 


P- 


123 




Epeira Westringii, Cambr. 


P- 


123 




Thomisus onustus, Walck. 


P- 


123 




Oxyptila sanctuaria, Cambr. 


p. 


124 




,, Black wallii, Sim. 


P- 


124 




Tibellus maritimus, Menge 


P- 


124 




Trochosa spinipalpis, 








F. 0, P.-Cambr. 


P- 


124 




Lycosa Farrenii, Cambr. 


P- 


125 




Marpessa pomatia, Walck, 


P- 


125 




Neon valentulus, Falconer 


P- 


126 




Euophrys aequipes, Cambr. 


P> 


126 




Attus caricis, Westr. 


p. 


126 




Order Chernit 


idea. 




Chernes dubius, Cambr. 


P- 


127 





Order Acaridea. 
Calyptostoma Hardii, Cambr. p. 127 Figs. 22-25. 



130 on new and rare british arachnida. 

Descriptions of Some of the Spiders in the 
Foregoing List. 



Zora letifera, Falconer, p. 111. 

Length of the adult male, If lines, very nearly 4 mm. 
Adult female 2| Imes, 4 mm. 

Closely allied to the common Zora maculata, Bl., but of a 
generally paler hue and less distinctly marked. The legs of 
the 3 females examined were immaculate ; those of the male 
had the tibiae of the first two pairs black and a very small 
dark spot or marking at the fore extremity of the tibiae of the 
third and fourth pairs. The structure of the palpi in the 
male, and of the epigyne in the female, also differ in the two 
species. Found in Wicken Fen in June by Mr. W. Falconer 
and Dr. Jackson ; who do not appear to have met there with 
the usually common Z. maculata, Bl. 



Agroeca diversa, sp.n. p. 113. Figs. 1-3. 

Adult female, length 2 lines. 

Very similar in general form and appearance to Agroeca 
gracilipes, BL, which is fairly common where the present 
spider was found. 

The colour of the CejihalotJiorax is deep brown with ver}^ 
slight traces of any longitudinal central pale yellow-brown 
stripe, which is plainly marked in A. gracilipes. 

The legs are dull orange yellow. The genuse, tibise, 
metatarsi, and tarsi of the first two pairs deep brown — 
approaching black. The metarsi of the third and fourth 
pairs deep brown, but less dark than those of the anterior 
pairs ; the tibise of the third and fourth pairs are obscurely 
annulated with dull orange and brown. The abdomen is 
jet black, the ordinary pattern on the upper side obscurely 



ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNIDA. 131 

indicated with fine pale whitish lines, scarcely visible excepting 
in spirit of wine. The genital aperture is much like that of 
A. gracilipes, but differs a little. 

Two examples found on Bloxworth Heath, October 14, 
1913. 

Leptyphantes insignis, sp.n. p. 115. Figs. 4-6. 

Adult male, length 1-1 3th of an inch. 

Cephalothorax longer than broad, obtuse at its fore 
extremity ; lateral marginal impressions at the junction of 
the thorax and caput almost obsolete ; marginal profile 
slightly impressed (or hollow) between the ocular area and 
the thoracic junction ; colour pale dull yellowish, the margins 
and normal thoracic segments very faintly indicated by 
dusky blackish. The height of the clypeus appeared 
slightly to exceed half that of their facial space. 

The eyes are on black spots, and rather closely grouped in 
a semi-circle ; they are of moderate size ; those of the 
posterior row are largest, and form a very slightly curved 
transverse row, whose convexity is directed forwards. The 
interval between the central pair is distinctly greater than 
that between each and the outer eye of the same row, next 
to it. The eyes of each lateral pair are contiguous and 
obliquely placed, and seated on a small tubercular prominence ; 
those of the anterior pair are the smallest, near together, but 
not quite contiguous, and placed on a largish and tolerably 
distinct dull blackish spot. The trapezoid formed by the 
four central eyes is rather longer than broad, and broadest 
at its hinder side. All are pearly white, excepting the fore- 
central pair, which are slightly suffused with blackish. 

Legs rather long and slender ; 1, 4, 2, 3, hairs, and spines 
generally, normal. The spines on the tibiae, especially of the 
fourth pair, very long. Colour uniform pale yellowish, 
slightly deeper than that of the CephalotJiorax. 

Palpi moderate in length. The cubital and radial joints 
short, the latter much the strongest, and has its fore extremity 



132 ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNIDA. 

rather produced in the form of an obtuse projection ; besides 
a few ordinary hairs the cubital joint has a single one a little 
stronger than the rest in front, and the radial has a curved 
one much stronger than the rest towards its extremity on the 
outer side. The digital joints are of moderate size. The 
palpal organs are highly developed, complex, and very 
distinctive ; their form and structure can be best seen and 
understood from the figure on the plate. 

The jalces are of moderate size, vertical, and tapering, 
and, with the maxillce, which appear to be of normal form, 
similar in colour to the Cephalothorax. 

Sternum heart-shaped ; obtusely drawn out at its hinder 
extremity, which is truncate. Colour yellowish brown. 

Abdomen, rather elongate-oblong, a little narrowest in 
front, and moderately convex above, of a uniform dull, pale, 
whitish hue (which would probably have become darker by 
age), furnished thinly with hairs, of which a few scattered 
over the upper side are very much longer than the others, 
prominent and black. The under side of the abdomen is 
suffused Avith sooty black. 

Found among dwarf herbage in a wood at Bloxworth on 
the 18th of May, 1912. 



Maso gallica, Sim. p. 117. 

This species differs a little in size from the closely allied 
form, M. Sundevallii, Westr., but may easily be distinguished 
by the clavate hairs on the palpi of the male. These are, 
some of them at the fore extremity of the upper side of the 
radial joint and three others at the extremitj^ of a conical 
projection near the base on the upper side of the digital joint. 
The genital aperture of the female also differs from that of 
M. Sundevallii. This latter species is widely distributed and 
common in some localities, but M. gallica has as yet only been 
recorded from Wicken Fen. 



ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNIDA. 133 

(?) Gongylidiellum incertum, sp.n. p. 117. 
Figs. 7-9. 

Adult female, length 2 lines. 

Cephalothorax much longer than wide, broadly and roundly 
obtuse at its fore extremity ; lateral marginal impressions 
at the caput well marked ; profile without impression between 
caput and thorax. The clypeus projects forwards, and 
exceeds in height half that of the facial space. The colour 
is yellow-brown. 

The Eyes are small, and form very nearly a semi-circle. 
The hinder row form a slightly curved line, whose convexity 
is directed forwards ; the two centrals are separated from 
each other by a diameter's interval, and each by a perceptibly 
greater interval from the lateral eye on its side. The fore 
lateral eye on each side is slightly the largest, and each 
lateral pair is seated on a small tubercular prominence. 
The fore-central pair are smallest, very near together, but 
not quite contiguous, and form, with the hind-centrals, a 
trapezoid whose hinder side is the longest. 

The legs are rather long, 4, 1, 2, 3, moderately strong, 
furnished with hairs, and a few slender bristles, and similar 
in colour to the Cephalothorax. 

Palpi similar to the legs in colour, and furnished on the 
digital joints rather thickly with spine-like bristles. 

Falces strong, straight, tapering, prominently convex in 
front at their base, a little directed backwards, and slightly 
darker coloured than the Cephalothorax. 

Maxillce strong, nearly straight, rounded on the outer 
side, and a little leaning towards the labium, which is broader 
than long, hollow truncate at its upper margin and rounded 
at the corners, and of a dark brown hue, the maxillcB being 
in colour like the falces. 

Sternum heartshaped, its hinder extremity is rather con- 
siderably produced into an oblong form between the basal 
joints of the fourth pair of legs. Its colour is dark yellow 
brown. 



134 ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNlDA. 

Abdomen oblong-oval, the upper side dull black and 
thinly furnished with fine black hairs. The underside is 
marked with an indistinct broken marginal whitish line on 
each side, and the spiracular plates are white. Spinners 
short and of a dull j^ellow-brown hue. On the underside 
of the abdomen, rather less than half way between the 
spinners and the genital aperture, is a longish transverse 
slightly curved fold in the epidermis, which has the appear- 
ance of being a perforated aperture ; but this may be only 
from a shrinking of the sldn. The genital aperture is of a 
distinctive and characteristic form. 

A single example found at Nethybridge, Scotland, by 
Mr. H. Donisthorpe. 



Entelecara errata, sp.n. p. 119. Figs. 18-21. 

Adult male, length | of a line (or l-16tli of an inch) ; length 
of a female slightly more. 

This minute spider is closely allied to Entelecara omissa, 
Cambr., and has been hitherto recorded under that name. 
It is, however, rather larger, and although corresponding in 
its general form, appearance, and structure, the following 
differences, among other lesser ones, seem to be sufficient to 
justify its being considered a distinct species. The eyes of the 
hind-central pair are distinctly nearer together, the interval 
between them being little, if anything, greater than an eye's 
diameter, while that between those of the corresponding 
pair in E. omissa is much greater. The palpi also of the male 
differ ; the digital joint in both has a similarl}^ curved, 
concave production of its extremity, but the prominent 
process issuing from its concavity is longer and not clavate, 
nor is it smooth at its extremity like that in E. omissa ; this 
extremity in E. errata is apparent^ roughened and furnished 
there with some minute points or denticulations. The 
genital aperture in the female also differs slightly in its form 
and structure. 



ON NEW AND RARE BRITISH ARACHNID A. 135 

In E. errata the general colouring is — Cephalotliorax dark 
brown, legs dull orange yellow, and the abdoynen dull yellow- 
brown ; the colours of E. omissa being of a darker brown 
hue on the cephalothorax, the legs clearer yellow, and the 
abdomen jet black. These colours, however, may in some 
measure depend upon the age of the specimen and the length 
of time it had been in spirit of wine. 

The examples of E. errata were found by Dr. A. R. Jackson 
on Scawfell Pike and Bowfell, Cumberland, at height of 3,210, 
and 2,960 feet, while so far E. 07nissa has only been found 
in a marsh or marsh-like habitat. 



Genus Nov. Collinsia. 

Cejjhalothorax nearly as broad as long, rounded behind, and 
tapering to its fore extremity, which is broadly and roundly 
obtuse; the lateral marginal impressions are obsolete, or almost 
so ; upper convexity normal ; profile almost uniformly 
convex ; a very slight impression at the junction of the 
caput and thorax. The height of the clypeus, which is rather 
prominent, exceeds half that of the facial space. Eyes in 
normal position of two transverse curved rows, posterior 
row slightly curved, the convexity of the curve 
directed backwards. Those of the central posterior 
pair appear to be slightly largest of the eight. Legs 
moderately strong, rather short, 4, 1, 2, 3! (1, 2, and 3 
do not vary greatly in length) furnished with hairs, excepting 
a slender bristle-like spine at the extremity of each of the 
femora, and on each of the genual joints and tibise. The 
digital joint of the male palpus has a strong obtuse concave 
prominence directed backwards at the base of the upper side. 
Falces rather long, moderately strong, straight, perpendicular, 
and furnished with a small single tooth (ending with a slender 
bristle) on the inner side near their extremit}^ besides the 
normal teeth near the fangs. 



136 ON NEW AND RAEE BmTlSH ARACHNIDA. 

Collinsia notabilis, sp.n. p. 120. Figs. 10-17. 

Adult male length l-13th of an inch (2 mm). 

The colour of the cephalothorax and falces is yellow-brown, 
that of the maxillce rather browner, and the sternum dark 
brown, convex and furnished thinly with prominent pale hairs. 
Abdomen black, spotted underneath, irregularly streaked on 
the sides, and suffused above with a pale hue. Some obscure 
transverse curved lines may be traced on the hinder half of 
the upper side ; but all these pale markings are probably 
untraceable excepting in spirit of wine. The whole abdomen 
is covered with short curved hairs. The eyes are rather large, 
those of the hinder row are equidistant from each other, or 
very nearly so, the interval between the hmd-central pair 
being slightly the greatest, but rather less than an eye's 
diameter. Those of each lateral pair are seated a little 
obliquely on a slight tubercular prominence, and the fore 
laterals appear to be rather larger than those of the hinder 
row ; the fore-centrals are smallest and almost contiguous 
to each other. The yalpi are of moderate length, the cubital 
joint shorter than the radial. This latter joint is much larger 
and spreads out considerably to its fore extremity ; at its fore 
extremity towards the inner side is a prominent curved, 
tapering, short-pointed, black thorn-like projection or 
apophysis, and near it on its outer side is another 
pointed one, though not so long. The digital joint 
is of tolerable size, and has its hinder extremity on the 
upper side produced into a strong obtuse, slightly concave 
prominence directed backwards. The radial and digital 
joints are furnished with coarse hairs. The palpal organs 
are very prominent at their extremity and complex, but their 
structure can be better understood by reference to the figure 
in the plate. 

A single example in excellent condition was found and sent 
to me from Tubney Wood, Berkshire, by Mr. J. Collins, of the 
University Museum, Oxford. 



Dorset Mlcatljcr Eore* 



By J. S. UDAL, F.S.A. 




T is only to be expected that in a county like 
Dorset, with a population so largely addicted 
to agricultural and pastoral pursuits — to say 
nothing of that part of it employed upon its 
large extent of sea-board — that signs and 
portents in any way indicative of what the 
weather is likely to be, are eagerly looked for 
and carefully treasured up, resulting in a 
■strong belief in those superstitions to which they give 
rise. 

It is, of course, impossible to say that many of the things 
that I note in this paper are peculiar to Dorset, or even to 
the West of England. But if one were only to record such 
of them as are not known to exist outside the county, and 
that principle were followed by other county collectors, then 
very many interesting items of weather lore would remain 
unchronicled altogether. As with plant and flower lore, so 
it is obviously impossible that the study of weather lore, if it 
be at all exhaustive, can be confined within the narrow 
geographical limits of a county. 



138 DORSET WEATHER LORE. 

It is difficult ill a short paper like this to deal with the 
subject in a scientific or orderly method that would satisfy 
the student of comparative folk-lore ; so I shall be content 
to adopt some simple method of classification or arrangement 
that will make it easy for any such student to select the 
material he may desire for the purposes of comparison or 
generalization. The older chroniclers of the domestic 
customs and superstitions of the people — which we now call 
" folk-lore " — were by no means scientific or orderly in the 
treatment of their subject matter, but one was nevertheless 
always able to find what one wanted. One of the most 
usual methods was that of taking the particular days of the 
calendar or periods of the year and adjusting and assigning 
to them the subject matter suitable to each. It is this 
method that I will now begin with, dealing with it in 
chronological order. 

Some thirty years or so ago the Dorset County Chronicle 
(I think at my suggestion, for I was anxious at that time to 
collect and preserve all the items I could of what may be 
termed Dorset folk-lore) instituted in its pages a " Folk-lore 
Column " for the collection of such items, and which I from 
time to time helped to supply with material. From that 
source, under date 17th December, 1891, I now give my 
first item. 

New Year's Day. 

It reads somewhat in the form of a prophecy from Old 
Moore's Almanac, and there is an old-world savour about 
it, but my note-book does not give the actual source whence 
it was taken. It treats of what we may expect should New 
Year's Day chance to fall upon a Thursday. 

" Winter and summer windie. A rainie harvest. 

Therefore we shall have overflowings ; much fruit ; 

plentie of honey ; yet flesh shall be deare, cattel in 

general shall die ; great troubles ; warres." 

Although not quite in chronological order I will now give 

some weather forecasts applicable to Candlemas. 



dorset weather lore. 139 

Candlemas. 

(i.) If Candlemas Day (2nd February) is a fine day, 
winter is to come ; if it's a middling day, winter is 
half over ; if it's a very rough day, winter is 
past, 
(ii.) Another and rhythmical form of this belief was 
sent to me years ago, together with several other 
interesting items of Dorset folk-lore, by the late 
Rev. W. K. Kendall, of East Lulworth, himself an 
early member of this Club. 

" If Candlemas Day be fair and fine, 
Half the winter is left behin'. 
If Candlemas Day do bluster and blow, 
The winter is o'er, as all good people do know." 

(iii.) Yet another instance of mild weather at Candlemas 
being taken as a harbinger of something more severe 
later on is furnished by the old saying that " as 
much ground as the sun shines on on Candlemas 
Day will be covered with snow before Lady 
Day." 

The late Mr. Hugh Norris, of South Petherton, 
for many years Somerset Editor of our excellent 
contemporary, " The Somerset and Dorset Notes and 
Queries " (Vol. I., pp. 160-162), gives a list of some 
West Country weather proverbs, from which I 
extract his version of the above saying, clothed in a 
rich vernacular — perhaps a little more Somerset 
than Dorset — " Za much groun' as ez cove'd wi' 
" zun 'pon Cannelmas Day '11 be cove'd wi' znaw 
" avore Laady Day." 

(iv.) In the following instance relating to Candlemas, 
furnished to " Notes and Queries " in 1872 (4th 
S. X. 82) by F.C.H. (the well-known Roman 
Catholic ecclesiastical authority, the late Dr. F. C. 
Husenbeth), attention is called to the alteration in 
these old dates — a fact, I am afraid, generally 



140 DORSET WEATHER LORE. 

ignored — caused by the introduction of the New 
Style. He says : — 

" In Dorsetshire people anxiously look for the 
dew-drops hanging thickly on the thorn-bushes on 
Candlemas morning. When they do, it forebodes 
a good year for peas. But these weatherwise seers 
are apt to forget that all these old saws were adapted 
to the Old Style, according to which what used to be 
Candlemas is now St. Valentine. N'importe, the 
weather prophet coolly moves on his peg and goes 
on predicting with equal confidence."' 
The following forecasts as to the kind of weather to be 

expected are based upon what has alread}^ obtained in 

particular months of the year — 

January — 

(i.) "A January Spring 

Isn't worth a pin " (or, in West Dorset, '" is 
good for no-thing.") 

Mr. Norris renders this latter version in the 
vernacular as follows : — " A January spring edd'n 
good vur noo-thing ; " because crops then become 
too forward, — " winter proud," as it is called, — and 
are liable to be damaged by later cold weather, 
(ii.) Another version has : 

" January Spring, 
February wring." 

(iii.) And a West Dorset variant of this last runs : 

" A January Spring 
Makes a February ring " {i.e. a ringing frost 
— the reverberation on the hard, frosty 
surface). 

February — 

(i.) If a mild January was considered unseasonable 
and undesirable, similar weather during the follow- 
ing month of February seemed even less to the 



DORSET WEATHER LORE. 141 

taste of the Dorset agriculturist, if we may judge 
from a couplet sent in 1889 to the Somerset and 
Dorset N. and Q. (Vol. I., p. 269) by G.W.F., under 
which initials it is not difficult to recognise Mr. G. 
W. Floyer, another old member of the Club — 

" Of all months that are in the year 
Curse a fair Februeer." 

(ii.) According to Mr. Norris this month shares, in 
slightly different terms, the epithet given to it by 
many other counties of " Veb'uary veil-ditch." 

March — 

(i.) The following proverb is no doubt common to 
many counties besides Dorset — " If March comes in 
like a lion, it will go out like a lamb," and vice versa. 
(ii.) It is widely believed that March and the two follow- 
ing months afford the greatest trial to a weakly 
constitution, owing to their often rapid change 
of temperature. It is thus expressed in Dorset — 

" March wull sarch, 
Eapril wull try, 
May'ull tell 
If you'll live or die." 

(iii.) Another common one is — 

" March winds and April showers 
Will bring forth May flowers." 

(iv.) The value to agriculturists of a dry March is well 
recognised in the proverbial sayings of many 
counties. In West Dorset I find the somewhat 
unusual form of " A bushel of March dust is worth 
a King's ransom when do vail on thornen leaves," 
given by a correspondent in Notes and Queries (5th 
S. I. 505), who suggests that the March dust is 
valuable at the close of the month when the thorn 
begins to unfold its leaves rather than at an earlier 
period. 



142 DORSET WEATHER LORE. 

(v.) Mr. Norris is responsible for the following : — 
" Zoo many vogs en Maarch, zoo many vrausts 
(or, var. " vloods ") en May." 

(vi.) Also for the statement that when in Spring snow 
lies for some time on the hill-sides and under hedges 
the popular belief is that " 'Tes awaitin' vurmooa." 

Easter. 

The following quatrain speaks for itself — 

" Sun Easter Day, 
Little grass, but good hay. 
Rain Easter Day, 
Good deal of grass, but bad hay." 
May — 

(i.) The changeable weather usually experienced in 
the month of May is neatly expressed in one of Mr. 
Norris's contributions : " May's ha'f zumma 'n ha'f 
wenta." 

(ii.) "A Zunny May 'n a drepping June 

'11 put all things en good tune.'" 

A comforting thought, as Mr. Norris says, for a late 
Spring. 

Midsummer. 

" A dry Summer never goes begging." 

Or, a West Dorset variant, 

" A dry Summer never begs its bread." 

Meaning thereby that fine dry weather in summer 
time is good for corn crops, particularly wheat. 

Michaelmas. 

The unseasonable effects of early frosts are shewn 
by the following lines : — 

" A frost before Michaelmas Day 
Hard enough to bear a duck ; 
All the Winter after 
Nothing but muck." 



dorset weather lore. 143 

Christmas. 

(i.) Similar to the last is one referable to Christmas : 
" If the ice will bear a horse before Christmas it 
won't bear a duck after." 

(ii.) "A light Christmas, light harvest." 

" Light " here presumably refers to a mild Christmas. 

(iii.) The same consequences of unseasonably mild 
weather, as already expressed as prevailing at 
Candlemas (iii.) is, with regard to Christmas, shewn 
by the following : — " If the sun shines on Christmas 
Day it will snow on Candlemas Day." 

(iv.) The same idea is more graphically expressed, 
perhaps, in this variant of the aphorism : " How 
far the sun is within the stall on Christmas Day, so 
far the snow will be on Candlemas Day." 

(v.) As a West Country variant of the common saying 
that " A green Christmas makes a fat churchyard," 
Mr. Norris gives the following as indicating the 
fatal effects of a trying spring on the constitutions 
of the sick and aged who have survived a mild 
winter — " Ev a chich'ard da look lik' a pastur' veel 
" 'pon C'ursmas Day '11 look lik' a plow'd veel avoa 
" Medzumma Day." 

(vi.) He also gives the following : — " Dree whit' 
vrauses (frosts) vollerin' avore C'ursmas '11 bring 
rain," a saying not by any means peculiar to Dorset 
or even the West Country. 

Particular Days of the Week. 

(i.) The weather obtaining on particular days of the 
week has been made the subject of note or observa- 
tion. In Dorset it is said that " Friday and the 
rest of the week are never alike," referring to the 
exceptionable weather usually met with on a Friday, 
(ii.) And sometimes it takes the form, in connection 
with other counties, of " Like Friday, like Sunday." 



144 DORSET WEATHER LORE. 

The former expression would appear to be at 
least as old as Chaucer. See the Knighte's Tale, 681 
(Skeat's edition), " Selde is the Friday al the Avyke 
i-lyke." This is referred to in a note by Miss C. S. 
Burne in her " Shropshire Folk-lore," p. 261. 

Moon Weather Lore. 

The various phases of the moon in most counties bear a 
large part in their weather lore, and amongst these the time 
of the new moon is predominant. 

(i.) In 1874 I sent to " Notes and Queries " (5th S., 
i., 48) an illustration of this from a Dorset source, 
wherein I stated that I had been informed by an 
old Dorset shepherd that " a Saturday's new moon 
" once in seven years was once too often for sailors," 
meaning thereby that sailors have a special dread of 
a new moon falling upon that day of the week. 
And I mentioned in illustration of this that the new 
moon for the previous August had fallen upon a 
Saturday, and that both the weather and sea had 
been unusually rough for that time of year, 
(ii.) Hence the proverb : " A Saturday's moon is the 

sailor's dread." 
(iii.) This is intensified should the full moon also fall 
on a Sunday, as is shown by the following couplet : 

'■' A Saturday's moon and Sunday's full 
Never did good and never wull." 

(iv.) A variant of this from West Dorset was sent in 
1856 to " Notes and Queries " (2nd S., ii., 516) by 
Clericus Rusticus (Rev. H. Rawlinson, Rector of 
Symondsbury) : — 

" A Saturday's change and a Sunday's full 
Comes too soon whenever it wool." 

(v.) When the moon is " cupped " {i.e., has her horns 
turned directly upwards), it is popularly supposed 



DORSET WEATHER LORE. 



145 



(vi.) 



to forebode a wet month. (Mr. H. Norris.) This 
position of the moon is sometimes spoken of as 
" lying on her back." 

" As many days as the moon is old at Middlemas 
{i.e., Michaelmas), so many floods before Christ- 
mas." 



Miscellaneous Weather Forecasts. 

I now come to what I may term miscellaneous weather 
forecasts, or circumstances and incidents portending wet or 
fine weather. And first I will deal with predictions of 
rain. 



Predictions of Rain. 

(i.) " Predictions of rain," says M.G.A.S. (Miss 
Summers, of Hazelbury Bryan, a lady who often 
contributed items of folk-lore to the Dorset Chronicle 
Folk-lore Column), in March, 1889, " are manifold. 
' Painful rheumatism, shooting corns, spiders 
' leaving their cobwebs and creeping about the 
rooms, soot falling down the chimney, stones 
drying quickly, cats washing over their ears with 
their paws. I was astonished by an exclamation 
I heard yesterday denoting the belief in ' weather 
prophets,' which still clings to Dorset. ' Dear-a- 
me,' says an old woman, " a weat zummer is 
a'-fore us.' ' Bad job this year,' says her com- 
panion. ' I didn't mind you 'twere a' tween the 
18th and 20th.' " " Thus," adds Miss Summers, 
rain between these dates denotes a wet summer." 
I presume this would mean such a period in any 
month before summer commences, 
(ii.) Another prediction of rain is probably known to 
many here, namely, that when Hardy's Monument 
is plainly visible from Dorchester, it is a sign of bad 
weather, or, as another contributor to the Dorset 



146 DORSET WEATHER LORE. 

County Chronicle in March, 1898, rhythmically 
puts it — 

" When Hardy's Monument is plainly seen, 
There'll soon be heavy rain, I ween." 

(iii.) From an illustration that has such an interesting 
naval connection with the county I will pass on to 
one of a more military character, namely, that 
the playing of a German band usually brings rain. 
A correspondent in Notes and Queries in 1887 (7th 
S., iii., 306) states that during the haymaking 
season in Dorset in the previous year a man was 
heard to say, " I thought it would rain, the 
Germingham (German) band was in the village." 
It appears to be a firmly rooted idea in the rural 
districts of Dorset, and also of Somerset (p. 432), 
that the arrival of these foreign musicians changes 
the weather for the worse. It is stated in " Folic 
Lore " (Vol. XX., p. 348, 1909) that a candidate in 
a recent Civil Service examination gave as a reason 
for the decreasing number of German bands in this 
country that people wil] not give them money 
because they bring rain ! 

(iv.) The direction of the wind as indicating wet 
weather will, I think, to most minds afford something 
more than a merely superstitious belief in the correct- 
ness of the following lines, which are not, I take it, 
peculiar to this county. 

" The south wind always brings wet weather ; 
The north wind wet and cold together ; 
The west wind always brings in rain ; 
The east wind blows it back again." 

The weather of the last month or two has afforded 
ample means of testing this ! 
(v.) The face of the sky is eagerly scanned by the 
weather-wise as indicative of bad or fine weather, 
and the following lines represent, I think, the form 



DORSET WEATHER LORE. 147 

in which this old adage is generally known to Dorset 
folk :— 

" Red in the morning, 

Shepherds' fore-warning ; 

Red at night, 

Shepherds' delight." 

(vi.) Or, a shorter version : — 

" Red in the morning, 
All day storming." 

(vii.) Mr. Norris gives a combination of these two : 
" Urds (red clouds) en tha marnin'. 
All tha day starmin' ; 
Urds en tha night, 
'Z tha shephe'ds' delight " 

(or, " All the day bright "). 
The general distrust of " mackerel " sky from a 
weather point of view is shewn from two rhymes 
given by Mr. Norris in his list of weather lore items 
above mentioned. 

(viii.) " Mack'el sky en maa's (mare's) tails, 
Da maake zailas (sailors) Iowa zails." 

And : 
(ix.) " Mack'el sky, 

Wun't be vaour 'n twenty hours dry." 

(x.) The old Dorset proverb that 
" A fog on the hill 

Brings water to the mill," 

is, of course, a clear indication of rain, 
(xi.) The ancients were not the only people to practise 
divination from observations of the flight of birds 
or the actions of animals. In Dorset it is commonly 
believed that if rooks are seen to be flying round and 
round, cawing loudly or in a " charm," as the 
rustics would say, and frequently dropping in their 
flight and recovering themselves, it is a sign of 



148 DORSET WEATHER LORE. 

imminent and very stormy weather. This is more 
than a mere superstition, and is easily verified. 
(See also Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries, 
Vol. I., p. 182, where this action of the rooks is 
spoken of as " playing breakneck.") 

(xii.) It is commonly noticed that immediately before a 
thunderstorm birds will cease their singing and seek 
shelter. 

(xiii.) If the green wood-pecker {picus viridis) — called 
in Dorset the " yaffle " (from his joyous laugh of 
" yaffala, yaffala, yaffala "), also the "wood-wall," 
and sometimes the " rain bird " (see R. Bosworth 
Smith's Bird Life and Bird Lore, p. 405 (1909)— 
whilst flying from tree to tree or wood, frequently 
utters its discordant, or, as some people would have 
it, laughing cry, it is a sign of rain. 

(xiv.) Again, if a wren is heard to cry or sing much it is 
said to be a sign of rain. 

(xv.) So, also, if geese fly, or flutter, down hill. 

(xvi.) Or if a cock crows upon his perch. Hence the 
rhyme — 

" If a cock goes a-crowen to bed. 
He'll ceartainly rise wi' a watery head." 

(xvii.) The same significance is attached whenever snails, 
especially black ones, are seen crawling about to any 
extent. Thus an old saying : 

" When black snails cross your path, 
Black clouds much moisture hath." 

Portents of fine weather : — 

I am afraid that I have not been able to gather together 
so many portents or predictions of fine weather as I have of 
those foreboding the reverse. 

(i.) If cattle during wet and miserable weather are 
seen feeding at the top of a hill, it is considered a 
sign that the weather will soon clear up. This I 
have not infrequently verified myself. 



DORSET WEATHER LORE. 149 

(ii.) As we have heard that if geese fly, or flutter, 
down hill it denotes rain, so, if they do so uphill, it 
foretells fine weather, 
(iii.) The adage is common to most counties, I think, 
that 

"If it rains before seven 
It will be fine before eleven." 

(iv.) The common, or scarlet, pimpernel {anagallis 
arvensis) — called in Dorset " the poor man's weather- 
glass," from its delicate sense of perceiving the 
approach of rain, when it closes its flowers — is 
often apostrophized by children in their games in 
the following lines : — 

" Pimpernel, pimpernel, tell me true. 
Whether the weather be fine or no. 
No heart can think, no tongue can tell 
The virtues of the pimpernel." 

(v.) The ash, in conjunction with the oak, is a very 
favourite test, according as one or the other is the 
first to put forth its leaves, as to what kind of 
weather may be expected during the ensuing season. 

" If the ash is before the oak. 
Then there'll be a very great smoke ; 
If the oak is before the ash. 
Then there'll be a very great splash." 

But, as I have said in a former paper, in this Club's 
Proceedings in 1899, dealing with superstitions 
applicable to the ash tree, the variants of this 
weather forecast are many. Some that I have 
heard, even in this county, are exactly the opposite 
to what I have given above, as in the following lines : — 

" If the ash is before the oak. 
Then there'll be a very great soak ; 
If the oak is before the ash, 
Then there'll be a very small splash." 



150 DORSET WEATHER LORE. 

I think it will be noticed that in the large majority 
of seasons the oak leaves are out before those of 
the ash. But I will leave it to observers themselves 
to say which of the two versions given above they 
consider the more correct one. For myself I can 
say that the oak leaves were first out last year, and 
what a summer we had ! 
(vi.) I will conclude this paper with a reference to the 
rainbow, which, somewhat curiously, seems to have 
been made but little use of as a weather portent, 
at least, so far as it has come to my notice. 

A correspondent in Notes and Queries (7th S., 
xi., 17) (1891) states that in Dorset, half a century 
before, the secondary rain-bow was called the " water- 
gull," and was supposed to be necessary to make 
the weather sign a satisfactory one. If one was 
seen alone, or with only an imperfect " water-gull," 
it was deemed unlucky. In other parts of England 
{e.g., Yorkshire) it would seem that attempts 
were made to " cross out," or get rid of, 
the bow, by making a cross on the ground. 
Sometimes this Avas done by the foot, or by 
taking two pieces of stick and laying them 
on the ground and placing a small stone at 
the end of each stick. Sometimes straws 
were similarly used, or even the crossing of the 
forefingers of each hand was considered quite as 
effectual. This charm Avas supposed to cause the 
rainbow to disappear ; but one may well believe 
that by the time some of these charms were got 
ready the rainbow had disappeared of its own 
accord. (X., 366, 471.) 



^Ijcrlioruc iBrclucrs in 1383 
(6 Hicljcirli M,). 



By E. A. FRY. 




N the De Banco Roll of Trinity, 7 Richard II., 1383, 
at the Public Record Office, London, are 
several long suits which recount a contest 
between the brewers of ale in Sherborne and 
Ralph, Bishop of Sarum. They are too long 
to give verbatim (though I have taken them 
out in full), but the controversy in a shortened 
form is as follows. 
The brewers complain that the Bishop had taken a horse 
and kept it for three days and, because it was not fed and 
watered, it had died. The Bishop replies it is true he took 
the horse, but he kept it only half a day, and that if it died it 
was through no fault of his, as the brewers could have fed and 
watered it if they had chosen. Whether it was one horse 
taken in the name of all the brewers or one horse from each 
of them, is not quite clear, but in each case the horse died, 
which seems rather extraordinary. 

The Bishop goes on to say that he was quite in order in 
taking the horse, as it was distrained for non-payment of his 



152 SHERBORNE BREWERS IN 1383. 

due of 2 J gallons of the best ale and 2 J gallons of the second 
ale (subsequently altered to 2 gallons for each kind) and 
one farthing for every gallon of ale brewed for sale in his 
manor of Sherborne, of which he was the lord. In subsequent 
pleadings he alters the lordship to that of the Castle of 
Sherborne, and states that he had view of frank pledge 
twice a year. 

In reply to this, Henry Lyneden, one of the plaintiffs, states 
that the place where this brewing of ale took place was in 
La Nywelond, i.e. Newland, parcel of the demesne lands of 
the manor, situate between the Chapel of St. Thomas-on-the- 
Green of Sherborne and the Castle. He goes on to quote a 
charter granted by Richard (Poore) Bishop of Sarum (1217- 
1228), in the reign of Henry III., and confirmed by Bishop 
Roger (de Mortival, 1315-1330) in the reign of Edward II., 
which I here condense in English, but give in full Latin text 
further on. It would be interesting to ascertain if this 
charter is still in existence, or is enrolled in any of the Salisbury 
Cathedral muniments, or whether it is a veritable antiquarian 
novelty. 

Bishop Poore's charter is dated in the eleventh year of his 
pontificate (the day and month are not stated), that is to say, 
in the last year of his being at Salisbury, and therefore before 
22 July, 1228, on which day he was translated to Durham. 
By it he grants, with the assent of the Dean and Chapter, to 
all his freemen who take new burgages at Sherborne between 
the Chapel of St. Thomas and the Castle, that they shall hold 
them freely and quietly for ever from him and his successors 
with all liberties and free customs to the said burgages 
belonging. Three kinds or sizes of burgages are instituted, 
the first kind are on the south side of the way which leads 
from the said Chapel towards the Castle, and are to measure 
20 perches long by 4 perches wide, and are to pay 12 pence 
per annum at the 4 usual quarter days. The second are on the 
north side of the said way, and are to measure 24 perches 
long by 4 perches wide, and are to pay an annual rent of 
18 pence, and the third kind are situate between the said 



SHERBORNE BREWERS IN 1383. 153 

Chape] and " our barn," probably a tithe barn, and measure 
only 2 perches long by 2 perches wide, and pay an annual 
rent of 8 pence. These rents are " for all service and 
exaction for said burgages which said free tenants and 
their heirs have for ever." It is over these few last words 
that the disputes arose, as will be shown later on. 

The " Inspeximus " of the Charter by Bishop Roger has no 
date whatever, and only an exhaustive examination of the 
periods when the witnesses to it were all alive will give the 
precise date, between 1315 and 1330 (during which years 
Roger de Mortival was Bishop of Salisbury), when the 
document could have been confirmed. 

Henry Lyneden's contention is that he now holds a burgage 
which Bishop Richard granted to John Bradford, and was 
therefore free from all services and exactions. 

To this the Bishop replies that the Charter only extended 
to the exoneration of the tenants from doing the services 
mentioned in the Charter. 

Some of the Plaintiffs go rather fully into the question of 
the situation of Newland, and say that the Castle is situate 
within the site of the manor of Sherborne, within the precincts 
of which manor there is an ancient vill of Sherborne bounded 
by ancient metes and bounds, and that there are within the 
precincts of the said manor divers hamlets outside the ancient 
vill of Sherborne, viz.. West Burton, East Burton, Holnest, 
Wotton, Gromeslee, Pyneford, Woborn, and Thornyford. 
Adjacent and contiguous to, but outside the bounds of the 
ancient vill, are three places called Coumbe, North Coumbe, 
and Nywelond, in which three places were men living for a 
long time who brewed ale for sale, and that Bishop Richard 
granted certain burgages of different dimensions, paying for 
them various rents '' for all services and exactions," and 
that the said Bishop had a Court with View of Frankpledge 
to be held at the Cross in the middle of the place of 
Nywelond by his Seneschall, to which Court the men of 
Nywelond holding burgages there came and not elsewhere, 
and were amerced and punished, and it was here the men of 



154 SHERBORNE BREWERS IN 1383. 

Nywelond were tallied and taxed and not in the old vill of 
Sherborne, nor did the men of the old vill come to Nywelond. 
Apparently this plaintiff endeavoured to set up an imperium 
in imperio exempt from a tax on ale. But it was of no avail, 
for a jury being summoned they state on their oaths that the 
said Bishop and his predecessors in virtue of their lordship of 
the Castle of Sherborne have always been accustomed time 
out of mind (not merely in Bishop Poore's time) to have 
2 gallons of the best ale and 2 gallons of the second ale and one 
farthing per gallon, both within and without the precincts of 
the vill of Sherborne, and they assess the damages of the 
Bishop at £37 0, which I suppose would be some £555 of 
our present money. They proceed to state what amount 
each of the plaintiffs have to pay towards this £37, and grant 
a " nolle prosequi " to two only of the plaintiffs. 



It is to be noticed that in the first place John Scopey 
(on m. 304), Richard Mohun (on m. 305), John Tayllor atte 
mere (on m. 306) and Henry Lyneden (on m. 307), as plaintiffs, 
each bring separate, though practically identical, suits against 
the Bishop for taking an unfortunate horse which dies, but 
it is only Henry Lyneden who quotes the Charter and its 
" inspeximus," presumably because he occupied one of the 
original burgages (formerly John Bradford's) granted by 
Bishop Poore. 

Then Bishop Ralph turns the tables and brings two suits, 
one against (m. 315) the Defendants, John Caundle, souter, 
Walter Fisher, Thomas Tylie, John Kent, mulleward, John 
Pyneford, Robert Font, Robert Mulleward, Roger Bavant, 
Richard Croppe, John Dale, Matilda Gys, Walter Goldsmyth, 
Richard Godefray, William Houpere, William Free, John 
Scopey, Peter Shoier, John Graunt, John Bakere, John 
Dodde, Thomas Shephurd, and Henry Lyneden. 

In the other suit (on m. 318) the Defendants are William 
Northerne, Stephen Bakere, William Font, John Nobilet^ 



SHERBORNE BREWERS IN 1383. 155 

John Manston, Margery Toukere, William Muriel, Margery 
Mannyng, John Bemynstre, John Donpayn, John Taillour, 
webbe, Thomas Iweyn, Richard Monne, John Mulleward, 
John Bouer, Nicholas Deighere, William Mulleward, Stephen 
Holdefast, Robert Anketyll, Henry Mascall, William 
Webbe, and Nicholas Burel. 

The damages assessed by the Jury on m. 315 are 
£37, those on m. 318 are £30, but both seem to have been 
revised, and on m. 319 and m. 320 the damages are reduced 
to £20 for both sets of Defendants. 



What is particularly interesting in these proceedings is the 
statement that there was a Cross in the middle of the place 
of Newland, and Mr. Alfred Pope will be able to state in a 
future edition of his valuable "Old Stone Crosses of Dorset " 
that a Cross was certainly in existence there in Bishop 
Poore's time, viz., 1217-1228. 

Perhaps the division of Newland into three zones with 
burgages of various dimensions and rents, and its position 
with regard to the Castle and the Barn, may throw light on 
other points now doubtful. 

But the quotation in full of a Charter of A.D. 1228 cannot 
fail to be of archaeological value, and the long list of local 
brewers shows to what an extent this beverage was consumed 
even in those days. Incidentally, also, it shows that the 
Chapel of St. Thomas-on-the-Green was in existence at the 
date of the Charter of 1228, the earliest date, I believe, 
previously knoAvn concerning this Chapel, being a Patent 
Roll of 18-19 Richard II., 1395, as mentioned in Hutchins, 
3rd ed.. Vol. IV., page 257. 



The Inspeximus of Bishop Roger de Mortival (1315-1330) 
of the Charter of Bishop Richard Poore (1217-1228) to his 



156 SHERBORNE BREWERS IN 1383. 

freemen of Sherborne. (De Banco Roll No. 490, m. 
307 d.) 

Universis sancte Matris ecelesie filiis ad quos presens scriptum 
pervenerit Rogerus permissione divina Sarum ecelesie minister humilis 
salutem in Domino Noveritis nos inspexisse cartam Ricardi quondam 
Episcopi Sarum in hec verba Universis Sancte Matris ecelesie filiis 
ad quos presens scriptum pervenerit Ricardus permissione divina 
Sarum ecelesie minister humilis Salutem in Domino Scire volumus 
universis quod nos assensu Decani et Capituli Sarum ad honorem beate 
Marie Sarum Dedimus et hac presenti carta nostra Confirmamus 
oiunibus liberis hominibus nostris qui nova burgagia capiunt vel 
recepturi sunt apud Shirobourn scilicet inter Capellam Sancti Thome 
et Castrum quod ipsi et heredes sui teneant de nobis et successoribus 
nostris burgagia que habent vel habituri sunt in predicto loco libera 
pacifice integre honorifice et quiete imperpetuum cum omnibus 
libertatibus et libris consuetudinibus ad hujusmodi burgagia pertinenti- 
bus Ita videlicet quod iDresente ballivo nostro liceat ipsis et heredibus 
suis burgagia sua dare vendere vel obligare cuicunque voluerint 
preterc[uam ecclesiasticis domibus religiosis et judeis sub tali forma 
scilicet quod quicumque aliquod burgagium dare voluit hereditarie 
dabit nobis et successoris nostris pro relevio quantum idem burgagium 
reddit per annum Sunt autem predicta burgagia in tres partes distincta 
Prima pars est in australi parte [vie] qua it a capella Sancti Thome 
versus Castrum in qua parte plenum burgagium continet in longitudine 
viginti perticatas et in latitudine quatuor perticatas Ita videlicet 
quod quicumque tale burgagium tenuerit dabit nobis et successoribus 
nostris duodecem denarios per annum Secunda pars est in boriali 
parte predicte vie in qua parte j^lenum burgagium continet in 
longitudine viginti et quatuor perticatas et in latitudine quatuor 
perticatas Et quicumque tale burgagium tenuerit dabit nobis et 
successoribus nostris annuatim decern et octo denarios et qui plus 
vel minus tenuerit de talibus partibus burgagii secundum predictam 
quantitatein nobis et successoribus nostris respondebit Tercia pars 
est que se extendit a capella Sancti Thome versus orreum nostrum in 
qua parte burgagium continet in longitudine duas perticatas et in 
latitudine duas perticatas Et quicumque tale burgagium tenuerit 
dabit nobis et successoribus nostris octo denarios per annum Ipsi vero 
qui predicta burgagia tenent et tenebunt solvent jjrenominatum 
redditum ad quatuor annuos terminos scilicet ad Natale Domini 
quartam partem et ad festum Annunciationis Beate Marie quartam 
pattern et ad festum Nativitatis Sancti Johannis Baptiste quartam 
partem et ad festum Sancti Michaelis quartam partem pro omni servicio 
et exactione Quare volumus et concedimus quod predicti liberi tenentes 



SHERBORNE BREWERS IN 1383. 157 

et heredes sui habeant imperpetuum predicta burgagia per predictum 
servicium bene in pace sicut predictum est Et ad majorem hujas nostre 
concessionis securitatem huic carte sigillum nostrum una cum sigillo 
Capituli nostri huic presenti carte sunt appensa Hiis testibus 

Henrico Abbate de Shirborne 

Magistro Elia de Durham tunc Seneshallo nostro 

Gilbert© de Stapelbrigge canonico de Sarum 

Gilberto HospitaU 

Waltero de Purle 

Stephano de Burton 

Ricardo de Gulleford 

Rogero Everard tunc serviente de Shirborn clerico 

Henrico de Haddon 

Philhpo de Charteray 

WilHelmo de Duyn 

Anno pontificatus nostri undecimo 

Nos vero predictam cartam in omnibus suis articuhs predicis bur- 
gensibus et eorum heredibus jDrout ea usi fuerint pro nobis et success- 
oribus nostris approbamus ratificamus et confirmamus Salvis nobis 
et successor bus nostris et ecclesie nostre Sarum omnibus redditibus et 
serviciis que nobis et predecessoribus nostris aliquo tempore accre- 
verunt seu successoribus nostris accrescere possunt in future de qiiibus 
quidem purpresturis placeis terre arentatis seu arentandis Ac eciam 
escaetis in manibus nostris aut predecessorum nostrorum post datum 
predicte carte quoquomodo accidentibus In cujus rei testimonium 
presentibus sigiUum nostrum una cum sigillo Capituli nostri Sarum 
sunt apensa Hiis testibus 

Magistro Henrico de la Wyle, cancellario ecclesie nostre Sarum 

Magistro Thome Hentot, Archidiacono Dors 

Magistro Waltero Hervy, Archidiacono Sarum 

Magistro de Ayleston, Archidiacono Wiltes 

Magistro Roberto Blonttesdon 

Domino Willielmo de Braybrok 

Domino Roberto de Wynchcombe et aliis 

(There is no date to this Inspeximus.)* 

* Canon Mayo informs me that Robert de Ayleston was collated 
to the Archdeaconry of Wilts, 27 May 1326 and became Archdeacon 
of Birks in 1331, so that Bishop Roger de Mortival's inspeximus must 
be dated between 27 May 1326 and 14 March 1329 — 30 when the 
Bishop died. 




iEcmortal tBrasscs of Dorset. 



By W. de C. PRIDEAUX, L.D.S., Eng., F.R.S.M. 



Part VII. 



C^ZEi 




M^a^^ 



previous meeting I exhibited a series of 
figure and other memorial brasses ; to my 
great regret they were destroyed by fire 
shortly after, before being reproduced. 
I may perhaps mention that a large plano- 
convex lens was the cause of my trouble, 
and warn fellow-members against leaving 
lenses near papers, whether rolled or flat, 
on a sunny day. 
I have rubbed most of these again and reproduce those 
from Woolland, Pimperne, Lytchett Matravers, and Church 
Knowle this year. Of others I have five inscribed brasses 
from Wareham, not in Haines' list. The Rector of St. Marj^'s 
was kind enough to allow me to examine the reverse of these 
brasses for possible palimpsests, I regret to say with 
negative result. During the alterations at Puddletown 
Church, the Rev. A. L. Helps allowed me to examine the 
curious Cheverell effigy and inscription there, but these 
plates, contrary to expressed opinion, proved to have perfectly 
plain backs. 



Here lyef^ y boiy of Mr George Burge* 
f^mceMaior.of Ay TotDTie.SDbo died* 

FeW: 13*1 16^0. 

Ifhoneff tipfh,§ood'Wee(im^ Courage, \biff, 
Confempf of Waif h ,f irmeHrindlhiDpniap^ beFW 
An £pi/Dp^; OP Bounf ie, ferue To raife 
TKy fleepiTi^ Alhei' info taking praife J 

ThiV TombV -^y Trifmpef f A ^Hy %^acy I 
In zeale.leff^ fo fhis^ Houle ihafi neu^r dy J 

Sfmiipxtt' amopis'ei^o 1 
^^^ Anna Vxor eiu/ . I 



(5eorae Buroes, 1640. 

WAREHAM. 



wli aro tfrmiHr, Oitufeinir tmapcr uitDHi^iiam.!iirr 
9r(r{f5ttirv^liiU-i»aiu^ of amw m ^ii.tf s fjcinft 

arafltam Ikat ni rtiaiiiTs 1* m mofiirtit ii^ ts^i 



Hnn dfi*an!?c, 1583. 
WAREHAM. 



ancient memorial brasses of dorset. 159 
Wareham, St. Mary's. 

Position. — Fixed against south wall of chancel. 

Size. — This is given separately. 

Description. — Four 17th Century inscribed brasses in plain 
Roman type, and one of 16th Century date in Old English, 
having a little ornamental detail as filling. These epitaphs 
are curious, in matter and spelling. 

GEORGE BURGES. 

(1) Size of plate, 20in. wide above, 17oin. below, llfin. 

high. 

Here lyeth y*' body of Mr. George Burges, 
twice Maior of this Towne, who died 

Febr. 13°, 1640. 
If honest birth, good breeding, courage, witt. 
Contempt of wealth, firme friendshipp, may befitt 
An Epitaph or Bountie, serve to raise 
Thy sleeping Ashes into waking praise, 
This Tomb's thy Trumpett, and thy Legacy 
In zeale, left to this House shall never dy. 

Struxit amoris ergo 

Anna Vxor eius. 

ANNE FRANKE. 

(2) Size of plate, 18in. wide by 6^in. deep. 

Here lyeth the bodye of Ann Franke the wyfe of 
Richard Franke, sumtyme Draper in Wareham, shee 
Desesed the xviii. daye of Apryll in An°. 1583, being 
then the eayge of xxx yeres. 

A matron sage, in maners mild, in modistie did exsell, 
In Godlinis, in governement shee ever guyded well ; 
In wedlocke chast in faythfull hand shee yelded up 

her lyfe. 
Beloved, bewayled by man, by maj^d, and wyfe. 



160 ANCIENT MEMORIAL BRASSES OF DORSET. 

WILLIAM PERKINS. 

(3) Size of plate, 20|in. by GJin. 

Here Lyeth buried the Body of William Perkins of 
Byeastwall nere Wareham gent who dyed the xx™ 
of August in the yeere of our Lord God, 1613. 

Fine witt, fat welth, faire face, and sturdy strength 
All these Devoringe Death Consumes at length. 

Intemerated vertue and good name 

Stand fast as rock, nothing removes the same ; 

Therefore love firme things, loath the fleeting still. 
This is the Sense and Subject of my will. 

RICHARD PERKINS. 

(4) Size of plate, 20|in. by 5 Jin. 

To the deare memory of her husband Richard Perkins, 
Gent, who having passed his life Religiously towards 
God And w™ great integrity and uprightnes towards 
The World, rendered up his devout soule into the 
Hands of his blessed Saviour, y'' 22™ of Aprill, A° 1616. 

EDMUND MOORE. 

(5) Size of plate, 14in. by 6in. 

Loe heere lieth buried within this grave 
The man home God did meane to save, 
And hath him advanced to heaven's blis, 
Wher he of hevens joye possessed is ; 
If more of him you list to knowe 
Thes folowinge leters his name do showe. 

Edmund Moore who 

Lived 72 years and 

Died Maye 21, 1625. 



Here LyfrrH BvwtD the Body of WiULrAM Perkins of 

BVEAbTWALL NERE W\RHAM CENT WHO DYED IHE Xx' 
OF AVGVST IN THE YEERE-OF OVR LORD Gob.l 6^15. 

Fine witt^fat weltii,kaike e\ce, and STVimv sti^js^gth: 
All THE^E Dt:voRiNcr. Death Con svMEs AT i^NCTH. 

InTEMERAT ED VERTVE AND GOOD NAME: 

sx\nd.e\st as rock nothtng removes the s^^^ 
Therefore lov^e firme things loath the. tleetlng stilu 
This is THE Sense and Svbiect of my 'Wtul' 



Milliam iPcrkius, 1613. 

WAREHAM. 



1b Tm DEARf; MEMORY OF HER HVSBANdRicHAJRD PERKINS 

Gent whohavit^g passed his life Reuciovsly towards 
God And w great integrjtY;& vprightnes towabds 
tfe vvbrld, re]^dertd vp his devovt sovle into the 

HA>fD5 OF HIS BLESSED S/^IOVRY ^1 OFAmitL )^l6l6' 



1Ricbar& Perkins, 1616. 

WAREHAM. 




wHtrte LYETH OVR LANDLADIi LOVEB Of ALL: 

WfipM Mary Argenton las^t W£E;SID gall.. 

^^5P()KNERLIElHORNH\rLL C«?T^ 
;fe 5fSTER TO WlUJAMSOF HeRi^STON K>JI(}^H1 . 
BVT'ThORNHVLL DIDLK^^AVE *£R IN foYNG'WftE IVtOST SVRE 
oThISMaNNOR of WbLLANDJ'vVMlL ST IXFE DID IKDVRl 

Tie: REVENrFvw vvhiror siefreexyr did spend 

In GOOD H05P1TALTTIE VISfTILL TE:R LIVES ETxlD 
Her PR AVERS TO COD SFE NEVER NEGLECTED 
HER^ LpE^ WTTH INEAMYE NEVER1>ETECT£D - 
T\pSi MiST "WE. A5SVRED TfROVCHGODSCOOD GKaCE 

HER^«>yji^ I^^^ Y H taken her place 

:& mtoJisj TfE TEARErOFOVR LORDeOD \(f\6 



/10ar\> Hroenton, lOie, 

WOOLLAND. 



ANCIENT MEMORIAL BRASSES OF DORSET. 161 

- WOOLLAND. 

MARY ARGENTON. 

Mary, daughter of Robert Williams of Herringston, wife 
of Robert Thornhull, and then of Lewis Argenton, 1616, 
inscription in 12 lines Eng. mural Chancel, Haines. 

Position. — Mural in the South aisle. 

Size. — Effigy 98in. high, by 11 Jin. broad at the base ; 
inscription is 20|in. by 13in. 

Description. — This curiously worded inscription described 
above by Haines is dated 1616, but the kneeling effigy above 
would appear to be of earlier date ; if not, the figure is a very 
late example of its type. The Church of Woolland was 
wholly rebuilt in 1743, " being ancient and ruinous ; " in its 
removal further West monuments to the Thornhulls are said 
to have suffered. Mary Williams was the second wife of 
Robert Thornhull, and by her he had seven children ; his 
first wife was Jane, daughter of John Tregonwell of Milton 
Abbey Esq'" and by her he had two sons and one daughter, 
Margaret, who married John Skerne of Bere Regis. Margaret 
Skerne's kneeling figure* in the Chancel at Bere Regis, 1596, 
although considerably smaller, is very similar to that of her 
kinswoman at Woolland. 

The inscription, in Roman letters, reads as follows : — 

Here lyeth our Landladie loved of all. 

Whom Mary Argenton last wee did call. 

But formerlie Thornhull of Thornhull she hight. 

Yet sister to Williams of Heringston, Knight. 

But Thornhull did leave her in Joyncture most sure 

This Mannor of Wolland, whilst lyie did indure ; 

The Revenew whereof she freelye did spend 

In good hospitalitie untill her lives end. 



* Page 205, 1902 Proceedings, Part I., The Ancient Memorial Brasses 
of Dorset. 



162 ANCIENT MEMORIAL BRASSES OF DORSET. 

Her prayers to God she never neglected, 
Her life with Infamye never detected. 
Then rest we assured, through Gods good grace, 
Her soule in y® Heavens hath taken her place. 
& died in the yeare of our Lord God 1616. 



PiMPERNE, St. Peter. 

DOROTHY WILLIAMS. 

Mrs. Dorothy Williams, 1694, curious, her husband John 
(rector ?), quadrangular plate mural, Haines. 

Position. — Mural, near South door. 

Size. — 18Jin. high by 18|in. wide. 

Description. — This brass, showing fine but curious 
craftsmanship, and having borders representing the familiar 
emblems of mortality, probably came from the workshop of 
a goldsmith or copper plate engraver, whose name may be 
deciphered above the feet of the skeleton, " Edmund Colpeper, 
Fecit." 

It is an example of two figures representing one and the 
same individual, and is found occasionally in stone, one 
above, in health and full costume of the period, the other a 
skeleton recumbent. In this instance the lady is represented 
as rising from a skeleton lying on a mattress, with a scroll 
issuing from her mouth bearing the text — " Death where 
is thy sting, Grave where is thy victory." The inscription, 
in Roman letters, reads : — 

Near this place lies y® body of Mrs. Dorothy Williams who 
deceased Nov. y® 24th Ano Dom. 1694. Erected by her 
Husband John Williams Cler. in memory of y^ best of 
wives. 

Dormio at Resurgam. ' 




Borotbv MilliHins, 1694. 

PIMPERNE. 



^ 






zrbomas petbvn, IRcctov, c. H70. 

LYTCHETT MATRAVERS, 









/IDargaret Clement, 1505. 

LYTCHETT MATRAVERS. 



ancient memorial brasses of dorset. 163 
Lytchett Matravers, St. Mary. 

1. — Thos. Pethyn, rector, c. 1470, in shroud, small, in 
Chancel. 

2. — Inscription ; Margaret Clement " generosa specialis 
benefactrix reedificacionis hujiis ecclesie 1505." 

3. — A matrix of a very large fret (the arms of Maltravers), 
with marginal inscription to Sir John Matravers, 1365 
(Cough's Sepulchral EfBgies, Vol. I., p. 117). Haines. 

THOMAS PETHYN. 

Position. — Mural, below a windoAv in the Chancel a little 
Avest of the piscina. 

Size. — 15in. high by 4|in. wide at the feet. The inscrip- 
tion 12 Jin. by 2 fin. 

Description.— This is the solitary example of a shroud 
brass extant in Dorset, although there are matrices, one being 
at present in St. Peter's, Dorchester. They are not found 
earlier than the fifteenth century, one of the earliest being 
the half effigy of Joan Mareys at Sheldwich, Kent, 1431. 
Thomas Pethyn's effigy is probably c. 1470. The origin of 
these peculiar effigies is given in Cotman's Brasses, Vol. II., 
p. 51, to remind us "that the robes of pride will shortly be 
exchanged for the winding-sheet, and that beauty and strength 
are hastening to the period when they will become as the 
spectre before them." The preparation for a shroud brass 
cannot have been very different from the following, for a 
marble effigy now in St. Paul's. 

" A monument being resolved upon, Dr. Donne sent for a Carver 
to make for him in wood the figure of an Urn, giving him directions 
for the compass and height of it ; and to bring with it a board, of the 
just height of his body. ' These being got, then without delay a 
choice Painter was got to be in readiness to draw his picture, which 
was taken as foUoweth. — Several charcoal fires being first made in his 
large Study, he brought with him into that place his winding-sheet 
in his hand, and having put off all his clothes, had this .sheet put on 



164 ANCIENT MEMORIAL BRASSES OF DORSET. 

him, and so tied with knots at his head and feet, and his hands so 
placed as dead bodies are usually fitted, to be shrowded and put into 
their coffin, or grave. Upon this Urn he thus stood, with his eyes 
shut, and with so much of the sheet turned aside as might show his 
lean, pale, and death-like face, which was purposely turned towards 
the East, from whence he expected the second coming of his and our 
Saviour Jesus.' In this posture he was drawn at his just height ; and 
when the picture was fully finished, he caused it to be set by his bed- 
side, where it continued and became his hourly object till his death." 
— Walton's Lives, p. 72. 

The inscription is in Old English type with usual pre- 
Reformation wording — 

1FMc jacet ^ns ZTbomas Ipetbv^n qualt^a 
IRectoris bin eccTie qui aic ppicietur ^i 



MARGARET CLEMENT. 

Position. — On a slab in the Nave near the Font. 

Size. — 16Jin. long, Sin. Avide. 

Description. — A plain inscription in Old English characters 
that incidentally fixes the date of a restoration of the Church 
in 1505. 

Bic jacet /Ibargareta Clement Generosa specialis 
beiiefactnj reeMficacionis bujus ecclesie que obiit 
il*5555 Me 5unu Ho &m /Ibo Dc x> cujus ate 
prcptcietur ^^U5 ame. 

Church Knowle, St. Peter. 

John Clavell, Esq''- in armour and two wives, 1st wife with 
3 sons and 1 daughter, 2nd, Susan, daughter of Robert Coker 
of Mappowder, mural, North aisle. Haines. 

Position. — Beneath the canopy of an altar tomb of Purbeck 
stone are three compartments, having the following three 



ANCIENT MEMORIAL BRASSES OF DORSET. 165 

figures let into the stone, below on the tomb are four blank 
shields. The monument is against the Eastern wall of the 
North aisle. 

Size. — John Clavell's effigy 12in. high by Sin. wide, the 
shield above, 6Jin. by 8|in., the inscription below 15in. 
by 2|in. His first wife and children llin. by lOin. wide, 
the shield over, 4fin. by 6in. His second wife llin. by 
7in. with an inscription 16in. by 2|in., the shield over, 
5in. by Gin. 

Description. — John Clavell of Barneston and afterwards of 
Wareham was born and baptized 2 May, 1541 ; he died 5 Jan., 
1609, and was buried at Knoll ; his will was proved 17th 
Feb., 1609. He probably erected this monument very shortly 
after his second marriage. He is shown kneeling at a desk 
on which is an open book, his hands are clasped in prayer, 
he is clad in plate armour similar to that of Nicholas Martin 
of Athelhampton at Puddletown,* but his helmet and 
gauntlets are to be seen on the ground beside him. 

Over his head is a shield of arms, quarterly, bearing 1 and 4, 
Vaire a chief gules Estoke,t 2 and 3, Sable six escallops three 
two and one argent also Estoke. Crest, a buck's head couped 
ducally gorged gules pierced between the attires by an arrow 
flighted proper, Clavell. Below is the following inscription 
iij Old English characters : — 

XLbc t\^oure of 5obn Clavvell JEsquicr bou5l»an& of 
tbese two wifes, ina^e. B. /ID(XC(ICCXJ1*55 



* Page 202, Proceedings, 1902, The Ancient Memorial Brasses of 
Dorset. 

t In the Sixteenth Century the Clavells had adopted for their paternal 
coat the arms of Estoke. The same arms are attributed in Mr. Dennis 
Bond's MS to Avis dau. of Walter Clavell of Winfrith (uncle of this 
John) who married Robert Bond of Lutton in 1565. But, in the 
Visitation of Dorset of 1623, their arms are given as, Argent, on a 
chevron sable three caps of maintenance or, and also in " Coker." Burke 
gives Clavell, Argent on a chevron sable three steel caps argent. 



166 ANCIENT MEMORIAL BRASSES OF DORSET. 

In the left compartment is the figure of his first wife, 
Myllecent daughter of John Gifford of Ishell, Hants, kneeling 
at a desk, her hands clasped in prayer, having her children, 
three boys and one girl, kneeling behind her. On the shield 
above her head, the arms quarterly as above, impaling 
Argent ten torteaux four three two mid one for Gifford of Ishell. 
Her marriage settlement was dated 11 June, 1563, and she 
was buried at Knoll 29th October, 1571. 

The inscription which should appear below this effigy is 
missing. In the right hand compartment is the effigy of his 
second wife Susan, daughter of Robert Coker of Mappowder, 
she was married before 1573, buried at Knoll 2 June, 1618, 
her will proved 29th June, 1618. She is shown kneeling 
alone at a desk on which is an open book, with her hands 
clasped in prater, and is looking towards the dexter. Over 
her head is a shield of arms, quarterly as above, but impaling 
on a bend gules three leopards' faces or, Coker. 

Below is this inscription in Old English characters — 

XLbc figure of /IIMstris Susan wife to tbc aforc5ai& 
5obn BauGbter to IRobert Coker of /Il^aupow^er in tbe 
€ount\? of H)or5ett lEsquier ma&e. a. /II>(I(rcC(XX|'|'35 



^Ije iEitrria^c of ^t* Cutljtiurga, 

Mjo toasi aftcrUjitrtis jfountircss of t\)c 

JEonastcrt) at Mimliornc* 



By the Rev. Canon J. M. J. FLETCHER, M.A. and R.D. 




t«^£<ae£^ 



oHE Volume from which the following account of 

Saint Cuthburga is taken is a folio fourteenth 

century manuscript, written on vellum, which 

was, previous to the Dissolution of the 

Monasteries, in " the library of the Church of 

St. Mary and St. Ethelfleda-the- Virgin, at 

Romsey." It is now one of the Lansdowne MSS. 

in the British Museum (No. 438). In its 

present condition it consists of 131 folios, in 

double columns ; and, according to the Index, originally 

contained the lives of 47 Saints, though the last four and the 

greater portion of a fifth are now missing. 

The account of St. Cuthburga is fifteenth in order, and 
occupies six pages (ff. 38b — 41b). It will be remembered 
that Cuthburga, the daughter of Kenred, and sister of Ina the 
great lawgiver, kings of Wessex, was married to Alfrid, or 



168 THE MARRIAGE OF ST. CUTHBURGA. 

Ealfrith, king of Northumbria. According to this MS. she 
persuaded her husband to release her from her vows before 
the marriage was consummated. And she built a monastery 
at Wimborne, over which she presided as abbess, and where 
eventually she died and was buried. The greater portion of 
the account in this MS. consists of a dialogue between Cuth- 
burga and Alfrid, and of an address which she gave to her 
nuns shortly before her death. 

This dialogue has, of course, no value from an historical 
point of view, though the actual framework of the story is 
accurate enough. For the life is Avritten after the Thucydi- 
dean method, with imaginary speeches, &c. The MS., it 
should be pointed out, was compiled, or at any rate was 
copied, in the Fourteenth Century ; that is, its date is some six 
hundred years after the death of St. Cuthburga. The details 
were taken from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, or from the 
pages of some Monkish Chronicler, who in his history embodied 
the old tradition. But the speeches are, of course, imaginary 
ones, and the pretended conversation between St. Cuthburga 
and her husband is a composition in praise of virginity. 
Such compositions were not infrequent. It may be recol- 
lected that Freeman {History of the Norman Conquest, Vol. 
II., pp. 46, 47, 530-535) mentions a similar conversation in 
which Edward the Confessor and Eadgyth are the inter- 
locutors. 

So far as I am aware, this MS. has never been printed, nor 
have I seen or heard that it has been previously translated. 
Hardy, however, in his " Descriptive Catalogue of MSS. 
relating to the Early History of Great Britain " (Rolls Series), 
Vol. I., p. 384, gives in a few lines a summar}^ of the life of 
St. Cuthburga as described in this Lansdowne MS. , 

But amongst the Cottonian MSS. in the British Museum 
(MS. Cott. Tiberius E. 1. ff., 234-5), there exists a vellum MS. 
somewhat injured by fire. It contains, amongst other lives 
of the saints, one of St. Cuthburga, which is apparently taken 
from the same source as that in the Lansdowne MS., though 
in an abridged form. It Avas in all probability written by 



THE MARRIAGE OF ST. CUTHBURGA. 169 

John of Tynemouth, who was born in 1290, Vicar of Tyne- 
mouth in 1315, and afterwards removed to St. Albans Abbey, 
where he in all probability died of the plague in 1349. This 
has been edited by C. Horstman, and printed by the Clarendon 
Press in 1901. 

John of Tynemouth seems to have been one of the first to 
compile a Sanctilogium Anglice. There are two copies of 
this MS. in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and there is a 
third in the Library at York Minster. There is also another 
copy in the British Museum, though it has suffered so much 
from fire that it is charred to a crust. 

In the 15th century, John of Tynemouth'a Sanctilogium 
Anglice was re-arranged in alphabetical order by Capgrave, 
whose Collection of Lives, with the addition of 15 fresh ones, 
was beautifully printed in the year 1516 by the celebrated 
printer, W3'nkyn de Worde, under the title " Nova Legenda 
Anglice." 

These " Legendaries," or Lives of the Saints, in pre-Refor- 
mation days, were read in the Church as Lections, or Lessons, 
in the Nocturns ; and were used as Sermons, which on Saints' 
Days frequently consisted merely of the reading of the lives 
of the Saints commemorated on those particular days. No 
doubt they also served as the devotional portions which were 
read for the edification of the members of Religious Com- 
munities whilst they took their meals in the Refectories of their 
Monasteries. 

It should be added that the quotations from Holy Scripture 
in this Lansdowne Manuscript are as a general rule taken 
verbatim from the Vulgate, to which the footnotes refer. 

The following is a copy of the Latin MS., with an English 
translation on the opposite page : — 



170 THE MARRIAGE OF ST. CUTHBURGA. 

Lansdowne MS. 436, rr. 38b-41b. 

Incipit de sancta Cuthburga virgine et Regina. 

Anno ab incarnacione Domini nostri Ihu circiter sexcentesimo 
septuagesimo extitit in Westsaxonia quidam magne nobilitatis 
subregulus de nobili magnorum regum prosepia oriundus nomine 
Kenredus. Iste Kenredus genuit sanctum Ine et fratrem eius Iniels 
et beatam Cudburgam et sororem eius sanctam Quenburgam. Mortuo 
autem Ceadwalla Westsaxonum rage predictus venerabilis et regali 
stirpe creatus Ine tocius regionis communi eleccione et unanimi 
voluntate in regem eligitur, et ad tocius regni gubernacionem pre- 
ficitur. Venerabilis igitur virgo soror eius * Cudburga a diebus 
adolescencie sue soli angelorum Domino elegit complacere, ut prudensf 
virgo cogitans semper que Domini sunt ut esset sancta corpore et 
spiritu. Illibatum itaque servans florem virginitatus iocundam 
spiritui sancto preparabat mansionem. Fama autem probitatis 
necnon et pulchritudinis ipsius circumque provolitans et ubique 
bonum odorem profundens, multos reges et nobiles adolescentes suo 
illexerat amore et a multis in coniugium petebatur assidue, et quia de 
genere processerat regie et quia facies erat ei digna imperio. Sed ilia 
solius celestis sponsi gaudens inherere complexibus, hominum eciam 
horrebat aspectus, et tota divinitatis suspensa contemplacioni dicebat 
in corde suo, f dilectus meus mihi et ego illi, ilium solum desidero, ilium 
solum tenere concupisco, illius amore langueo, illi soli adhere suave 
mihi et iocundum, quia speciosus est pre filiis hominum. 

Gapitulum secundum. 

Postea Rex Northamhimborum Aldfrith vir in scripturis eruditus 
misit legates sues ad venerandum Ine regem Westsaxonum, rogans ut 
ei suam sororem sanctam Cudburgam daret in coniugem. Quibus 
auditis Rex ut erat voltu placido respondit legates quod super hoc 
virginis acceptaret animum, utrum talibus prebere asswnsum. Advocans 
ergo rex clam sororem suam indicavit ei regis legacionem, et quid super 
hoc responsurus esset sui requirit animi voluntatem. Ad hoc verbum 
virgo pudica prime expavit ; deinde resumpto spiritu sic regi respondit : 
" Domine et f rater, si mihi ad votum meum vivere liceret, nullus 
certe in tota Britannia rex vel subregulus in sponsum michi placeret. 
Set quia Scriptura dicit, quod § qui potestati resistit Dei ordinacioni 
resistit, quemcunque tua maiestas mihi ordinaverit me sibi obedientem 

* The name in tne M.S. is variously spelt ' Cuthburga,' 
' Cudburga,' ' Cuthberta,' and ' Cudberta.' 

t I. Cor. vii., 34. % Cant., ii., 16. § Rom. iv., 2. 



THE MARRIAGE OF ST. CUTHBURGA. 171 

Translation. 

Here beginneth concerning Saint Cuthburga, Virgin and Queen. 

About the year 670 from the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus, there 
was in Wessex a certain sub-king of high nobiUty and sprung from a 
noble Hne of great kings, Kenred by name. This Kenred begat Saint 
Ina and his brother Ingild and the blessed Cuthburga and her sister 
Saint Quenburga. But on the death of Ceadwalla king of Wessex 
the aforesaid venerable and royally descended Ina is elected king by 
the general choice and joint will of all that region and is set to govern 
the whole kingdom. Now the venerable virgin, his sister Cuthburga, 
from the days of her youth chose to please the Lord of the angels 
alone, like a wise virgin thinking only the thoughts of the Lord, that 
she might be holy in body and in spirit. And so, keeping untouched 
the flower of her virginity, she made ready a pleasing mansion for the 
Holy Spirit. Now the report of her purity and of her beauty being 
spread abroad on all sides and everyone sending forth a sweet odour, 
had attracted many kings and noble youths with love of her, and by 
many she was eagerly sought in marriage, both because she came of 
royal race and because her countenance was worthy of a position of 
supreme authority. But she, rejoicing to cleave to the embrace of 
her heavenly spouse alone, shrank even from the gaze of men, and, 
wholly intent on the contemplation of the Divine, said in her heart, 
" My beloved is mine and I am His ; Him alone do I desire ; Him 
alone do I desire to hold, and with the love of Him alone do I languish ; 
to Him alone is it sweet and pleasant to me to cling, for He is lovely 
bej^ond the sons of men." 

The second Chapter. 

Afterwards Aldfrith, king of the Northumbrians, a man learned in 
the Scriptures, sent his envoys to do honour to Ina king of Wessex, 
desiring that he will grant him his sister Saint Cuthburga in marriage. 
Whereupon the king with his habitual placid countenance made answer 
to the envoys that he would make trial of the virgin's mind on this 
matter whether to give assent to such a request. Therefore the king, 
calling his sister privately to him, made known to her the king's 
embassage, and asked her will what he should answer in this matter. 
At this the modest virgin was at first amazed ; but afterwards, 
recovering her spirit, she thus makes answer to the king : " My lord 
and brother, M-ere it permitted me to live after mine own wish, assuredly 
no king or under king in all Britain were a husband to my mind. But 
inasmuch as the Scripture saith ' he who resists authority resists the 
ordinance of God,' whomsoever your majesty hath ordained for me he 
shall find me prompt to obey him, though it be not of my will. For 



172 THE MARRIAGE OF ST. CUTHBURGA. 

prompte quamvis non voluntarie inveniet. ScrijDtum est autem* quod 
voluntas habet penam, et necessitas parit coronam. In Domino enim 
confido quod respiciet humilitatem ancille sue, nee patietur violari 
claustra pudicicie mee, neque vnquani me sequestrabit a castis eom- 
plexibus dileccionis sue. t Non est enim impossibile apud Deum omne 
verbum Potens est ergo Dominus et sponsus meus me sibi eciam sub 
matrimonio custodire incorruptam ; et quamvis alicui secundum 
legem hominum nubam, potest tamen me sibi conservare inviolatam." 

Capitulum tercium. 

Audito igitur virginis responso serenissimus rex Ine mandat regi 
Northamhimbrorum tandem ad consensum emollituin virginis animum, 
et ut statuta die ducat eam in vxorem juxta regiam nobilitatem et 
gentis sue consuetudinem. Quo audito rex Northamhimbrorum supra 
quem dici potest magno gavisus est gaudio ; quia non modico virginis 
ardebat desiderio. Evoluto igitur non longo temporis intervallo 
adest dies determinatus nui^ciarum ; et desponsatur beata virgo 
Cudburga regi Northamhimbrorum. Cumque nupcie regio more 
celebrarentur et omnes provincie ilhus optimates tante festivitati 
interessent et congratularentur, beata virgo Cudburga secreto sola 
cubicularem ingressa thalamum talem dicitur oracionem fudisse ad 
dominum : " Domine Ihu dominator universe creature inclina pias 
aures ad preces ancille tue. Bone Ihu donator castitatis sanctificator 
virginitatis intende queso oracionem meam pravitatis et ascendat 
deprecacio mea in conspectu tue maiestatis. Te solum domine in 
sponsum meum elegi, tibi me totam a iuventute mea donavi, tu mihi 
super omnia complacuisti. Custodi domine quod tuum est, conserva 
tibi partem tuam, dignare me vocare sponsam tuam. Non sinas 
corpus meum quod templum tuum est aliqua carnis corrupcione 
contaminari, nee aliquod candide virginitatis mihi detrimentum 
inferri. Set interj virgines que secuntur agnum quocunque ierit iube 
me computari. Fac eciam domine banc cum ancilla tua 
misericordiam § si aliquam in oculis tuis inveni graciam ut in corde 
sponsi mei scilicet huius regis spiritum infundes gracie salutaris, 
quatinus despectis seculi huius vanitatibus et carnalibus illecebris 
mihi in castitatis proposito consenciat, ut ad te qui omnium bonorum 
dispensator es recto itinere perveniat." Sic orabat ilia felix et vere 
beata et per maxillam currunt vbertim lacrimarum fluvium, et a 
maxilla plorantis ascendunt lacrime in conspectu divine maiestatis. 
Exaudita est enim oracio eius, sicut postea reruin probavit eventus. 

* This may mean that the necessity imposed on n:an by the 
compelling grace of God produces reward. 

t S. Luke i., 27. % Apoc, xiv., 4. § Esther, vii., 3. 



THE MARRIAGE OF ST. CUTHBURGA. 173 

it is written that ' voluntary action incurs punishment and external 
constraint produces a crown.' For I have faith in God that he will 
regard the lowliness of His handmaiden, and will not suffer the guards 
of my virginity to be violated, nor will ever remove me from the chaste 
embraces of his love. For nothing is impossible with God. There- 
fore, my Lord and spouse is strong to preserve me uncorrupted for 
Himself even in matrimony ; and although I wed anyone after the 
law of men, yet nevertheless he is able to keep me inviolate for 
Himself." 

The third Chapter. 

Having therefore heard the reply of the virgin, the most serene king 
Ina announces to the king of the Northumbrians that at length the 
virgin's mind is bent to agreement, and bids him wed her on a stated 
day as befits his royal nobility and the custom of his people. On 
hearing this, the king of the Northumbrians rejoiced with a great joy 
beyond what words can exjjress, for he burned with exceeding desire 
for the maiden. And so after the lapse of no great length of time the 
day fixed for the nuptials is at hand ; and the blessed maiden Cuthburga 
is betrothed to the king of the Northumbrians. And when the 
nuptials are being celebrated with royal state and all the nobles of 
that province were present at the great ceremony and were offering 
their congratulations, the blessed virgin Cuthburga went apart alone 
to her chamber and is said to have prayed to the Lord in words such 
as these : " Lord Jesus, ruler of all creation, incline favourable ears 
to the prayers of thine handmaiden. O good Jesu, giver of chastitj' 
and sanctifier of virginity, hear, I pray, the supplication of my sinful 
nature and let my prayer ascend before Thy majesty. Thee alone, O 
Lord, have I chosen for my spouse ; to Thee have I given myself 
entirely from my youth up ; Thou hast been my delight above all things. 
Preserve, O Lord, that which is Thine ; keep for Thyself what is part 
of Thee ; deign to call me Thy spouse. Suffer not my body which is 
Thy temple to be stained with any carnal corruption, nor any loss of 
my spotless virginity to be inflicted upon me. But bid me to be 
numbered amongst the virgins which follow the Lamb whithersoever 
He goeth. Have also this mercy ujDon Thine handmaid, if I have 
found any favour in Thy sight, and pour into the heart of my spouse 
this king a spirit of saving grace, so that putting away the vanities of 
this world and the snares of the flesh, he may consent to my purpose 
of chastity, and come to Thee, who art the giver of all good, by a straight 
road." So prayed that blissful and truly blessed maiden, and rivers 
of tears ran plenteously down her cheeks, and from her cheek the 
tears of her weeping ascended to the presence of divine majesty. For 
her prayer was heard as the future events showed. 



174 THE MARRIAGE OF ST. CUTHBURGA. 

Capitulum quartum. 

Interea vero rex et omnis familia in aula regia com magna exultacione 
et hillaritate convivabanfc, et tocius provincie primates cum senibus et 
iunioribus pari assensu et voluntate tante solempnitatis festine et 
iocunde congaudebant. Cum iam totus dies in tali gaudio et leticia 
expediretur noxque superveniens dormiendi requiem hortaretur, rex 
letus et hilaris subintrat cubiculum gemmatis cortinis et regalibus 
diviciis adornatum, desiderans cum sponsa mortalium more consuetum 
habere consorcium. Et cum essent in cubiculo soli, beata Cudberta 
oportunum sibi considerans tempus loquendi talis (sic) fertur verbis 
regem et sponsum suum affari. " Amantissime hominum et dulcissime 
mihi super omnes filios mortalium, quamvis excellenti sis preditus 
ingenio et super modernos reges litterarum eruditus sciencia, ne 
indigneris queso si loquatur tibi sponsa et ancilla tua. Scriptum 
quippe est,^ Libenter suffertis insipientes cum sitis ipsi sapientes. 
Et alibi,^ sit omnis homo velox ad audiendum. Ergo si aliquid 
fortassis dixero quod saluti tue maiestatis fore cognoveris necessarium, 
ne cun(c)teris libenter verbis meis prebere assensum. Omnium 
creaturarum dei naturale et proprium est creatorem suum diligere super 
omnia, et tocius racionis ordo poposcit non solum malis sed eciam 
bonis rebus meliora preponere. Deum ergo qui super omnia bonus est, 
super omnia desiderandum esse necessario inferri potest. Set Scripture 
dicit, ^ Nemo duobus dominis servire potest. Quibus ? Deo scilicet 
et mundo. Inde scriptum est, ^ Quicunque voluerit esse amicus huius 
mundi inimicus dei constituitur. Idcirco Pavilus admonet dicens ad 
Timotheum discipulum suum scribens '^ Precipe divitibus huius seculi 
non . . sperare in incerto diviciarum. Et alibi, ^ Carnis curam ne 
feceritis in desideriis. Quid ergo ? Simus in hoc seculo ' tanquam 
nichil habentes et omnia possidentes, ^ et utamurhoc seculo tanquam 
non utentes. ^ Serviamus domino in timore perseverantes in corporis 
castitate et cordis puritate, nulla carnis corrupcione polluamus corpus 
nostrum, ut sancti spiritus mereamus effici sacrarium. 

Capitulum quintum. 

Audiens hec rex tantam verborum in beata virgine miratuj 
prudenciam, et talem fertur protulisse responcionem. Universa cjue 
loquendo persequeris sponsa dulcissima cognosce te prorsus veraciter 
deseruisse {sic) ; nee aliqua possunt contradici racione. ^^ Qui 

1 2 Cor., xi., 19. - S. James, i., 19. •' S. Matt., vi., 24. 

* S. James, iv., 4. ^2 Tim., vi., 17. "^ Rom., xiii., 14. 

■^ 2 Cor., vi., 10. s cf. I. Cor.,vii., 31. '^ Ps. ii., 11, Servite (Vulg.). 

^^ From Thomas Aquines. 



THE MARRIAGE OF ST. CUTHBURGA. 175 

The fourth Chapter. 

Meanwhile the king and all his folk were feasting in the royal hall 
with great joy and gladness, and the chief men of the whole province 
with the elders and the young men were rejoicing merrily and happily 
in that great occasion with common consent and goodwill. And when 
now the whole day had passed in such pleasure and gladness, and the 
night coming on summoned them to the rest of sleep, the king, full of 
happiness and joy, enters the chamber adorned with begemmed 
hangings and royal wealth, desirous of having the accustomed inter- 
course with his bride after the manner of men. When they were alone 
in the chamber, the blessed Cuthburga, thinking this the fitting time 
for her to speak, is said thus to have addressed the king her spouse : — 
" O most beloved of men, and dearest to me of all mortals, although 
thou art endowed with excellence of understanding and art skilled in 
knowledge of letters beyond kings of the present day, do not be 
indignant, I beseech thee, if thy bride and handmaid speaks to thee. 
For it is written, ' Ye suffer fools gladly though ye yourselves are 
wise,' And in another place, ' Let every man be swift to hear.' 
Wherefore, if I shall say anything perchance that thou knowest to be 
necessary for the salvation of thy majesty, be not slow freely to give 
assent to my words. It is natural and proper for all God's creatures 
to love their Creator above all things, and the whole scheme of reason 
demands that we should prefer the better not only to things which are 
bad, but also to those which are good. God, then, who is good above 
ail things, it can necessarily be inferred, is to be desired above all 
things. But the Scripture saith ' No man can serve two masters.' 
What masters ? God and the world. Afterwards it is written : — 
' Whosoever willeth to be a friend of this world shall be accounted 
the enemy of God.' Wherefore Paul admonishes us, saying in his 
Epistle to Timothy his disciple ' Charge them that are rich in this 
world not to put their trust in the uncertainty of riches.' And in 
another place, ' Take not care for the flesh in its desires.' What then ? 
Let us be in this world ' as though having nothing and yet possessing 
all things,' and let us ' use this world as though using it not.' ' Let us 
serve the Lord in fear,' persevering in chastity of body and in purity of 
heart ; let us pollute our body with no corruption of the flesh that we 
may deserve to be made the shrine of the Holy Ghost. 

The fifth Chapter. 

Hearing these things the king marvelled at so great a wisdom of 
speech in that blessed virgin, and is said to have made this reply — 
" All that thou hast spoken, my sweetest bride, I know that thou 
hast said with the utmost truth, and no reason can avail to refute it. 



176 THE MARRIAGE OF ST. CUTHBURGA. 

enim ad vite perfeccionem festinare desiderat proculdubio 
necesse est ut omnia que seculi sunt postponat et 
dominum sequendo* artam viam que ducit ad vitam incedere 
satagat. Sic enim salvator noster cuidam dixisse scribitur. 
■f Si vis perfectus esse, vade vende omnia que habes et da 
pauperibus et veni sequere me. Set cum nupcias a domino mortalibus 
propter sobolis propagacionem coneessas credimus, et ipsius salvatoris 
presencia sanctificatas evangelica auctoritate comprobamus. Ipse 
enim dominus Ihs salvator mundi evangelic teste nupciis interfuit, 
ut eas approbare intelligeretur in eisdem nupciis novo et inusitato 
miraculo aquam in vinum oiatimum mutavit. Paulus eciam apostolus 
doctor egregius jDer quem loquebatur deus dixit, J melius est nubere 
quam uri. Et iterum, § Unusquisque habeat uxorem suam propter 
fornicacionem. Nulli igitur divinis iussionibus vel saluti humane 
contrarium videatur si vir uxorem ducat aut si mulier viro tradatur. 



Capitulum sexturn. 

Ad hec beata Cudberta quasi subridens sic ut fertur responsit dicens. 
Verum est enim bone rex dominum et salvatorem nostrum nupciis 
interfuisse et inibi potenti virtute de aqua vinum fecisse. Set tamen 
quantum nupciis virginitatem preferat, aperte ostendit, quando 
beatem virginem mariam intemeratam sibi in matrem elegit, que 
prima se omnium feminaruin deo virginem v^ovit. Et quamvis eam 
divina dispensacione josep desponsari permiserit, nullum tamen 
virginitatis detrimentum pertulit, set ante partum et in partu et post 
partum spiritus sancti abumbracione virgo intacta permansit. 
II Sponsum eciam ipsarum nupciarum c^uibus salvator interfuit, ab 
ipsis nupciis ut tradunt historic aspiracione interna abstraxit, et 



* S. Matt., vii., 14. 

t S. Matt., xix., 21, &c. | I. Cor., vii., 9. 

§ I. Cor., vii., 2. 

II I am indebted to the Rev. H. Pentin for the following note : — ■ 

" I cannot trace the source of the legend that S. John was the 
bridegroom at Cana in Galilee ; but it appears in the 15th century 
Vita Christi, given in Migne's Legendes, and the conclusion is : — 

" When they had supped, Christ called John, and said to him, 
' John, leave thy wife and come after Me, for I wish to bring thee to a 



THE MARRIAGE OF ST. CUTHBURGA. 177 

For whosoever desires to hasten to the perfection of Ufe, it is doubtless 
needful that he should put behind him all that is of the world, and, 
following the Lord, strive to go along the narrow way that leads to 
life. For so it is written that our Saviour said to a certain man : — 
" If thou wilt be perfect, go sell all that thou hast and give to the 
poor, and come follow Me." But as we believe that marriage has 
been granted by the Lord to mortal men for the propagation of 
children, so we prove on the authority of the Gospel that it has been 
sanctified by the presence of the Saviour Himself. For he, the Lord 
Jesus, the Saviour of the world, was, as the Gospel bears witness, a 
guest at a wedding ; and that it might be seen that He approved of 
marriage, at that very same wedding, by a new and unheard of miracle. 
He changed water into the best of wine. Paul the Apostle, also, that 
excellent doctor by whom God spake, said ' It is better to marry than 
to burn.' And again, ' Let everyone have a wife because of fornica- 
tion.' To no one therefore should it seem contrary to divine commands 
or to human salvation if a man marry a wife or if a woman be given in 
marriage to a man." 

The sixth Chapter. 

To this, so it is reported, the blessed Cuthberga answered with a 
smile : — " True it is, O excellent king, that our Lord and Saviour was 
present at a wedding and there by His powerful virtue changed water 
into wine. But nevertheless He showed j^lainly how greatly He 
preferred virginity to marriage when He chose the blessed and 
unstained Virgin Mary for His mother, who first of all women devoted 
herself as a virgin to God. And although He suffered her by a divine 
dispensation to be espoused to Joseph, yet she endured no detriment 
of her virginity ; but, before the birth and in the birth and after the 
birth, she remained a virgin intact by the sheltering grace of the Holy 
Spirit. Also He withdrew by an inward inspiration the very bride- 
groom at the wedding where the Saviour was present, as the histories 
hand down, and caused him to continue a virgin free of all carnal 



grander wedding than this, and that thou mayest know what it is, it 
is My passion.' " 

" There are, however, earlier references to the story that our Lord 
prevented John from marrying. Many of these are given under the 
title " Johannes Herkunft " in Lipsius' Die Apokryphen Apostel- 
geschichten und Apostellegenden. 

" The identification of the bridegroom at Cana with " Simon the 
Canaanite " is the more widely accepted tradition. Lipsius deals 
with it in his Vol. III."— J.M.J.F. 



178 THE MARRIAGE OF ST. CUTHBURGA. 

tociiis carnalis copule immunem perseverare virginem fecit, et in 
tantum eum dilexit, ut apostolus et evangelista effici mereretur, et 
discipulus ille quem diligebat Ihs vocaret\ir, et supra omnem creaturam 
divinitatis gloriam intueretur Cui enim salvator noster in cruce iam 
positus matrem virginem virgini commendavit, et discipulus virgo 
matri virgini deservivit, Considera igitur quanta sit gloria maiestatis, 
quanta excellencia virginitatis. Per earn beata maria super omnes 
feminas deo complacuit, per earn deus Johannem apostolum super 
omnes homines dilexit. Qui ergo conditori suo complacere et celesti 
regno excellentem gloriam obtinere desiderat, a facie ad faciem deum 
videre anhelat, cordis mundiciam et corporis castitatem conservare 
studeat. 



Capitulum septitnum. 

Tunc vero rex preventus spiritus sancti presencia beate Cudburge 
respondisse dicitur in hec verba. Omnia quidem cognosco karissima 
vere esse que loqueris, et ceteris virtutibus candidam virginitatem si 
humilitati coniuncta fuerit precellere confiteor ut asseris. Sicut- 
ergo ex tuis verbis colligi potest virginitatem tuam deo consecrasti, et- 
ut mihi videtur virginem te permansuram proposuisti. Injustum est 
igitur me aliquam tibi contra tuam voluntatem vim inferre, et mentem 
tuam a tarn sancto j^i'oposito revo(c)are. Nichil quidem amodo 
verearis neque timeas aliquam de hac re per me jaati molestiam, set 
permitto tibi propositam tenere pudiciciam, concedatque tibi deus 
talem inchoate religionis habere perseveranciam, quatenus post huius 
vite peregrinacionem ad summe divinitatis merearis pertingere con- 
templaeionem. Pro me eciam benignum Ihesum assiduis precibus 
interiDellare non desistas, ut mihi sue spiritum dileccionis infundat quo 
imbutus omnes mundales paruipendam honores et divicias, et jjresentis 
vite superare queam illecebras quatenus* iuste et sancte vivens in hoc 
presenti seculo dei valeam consequi misericordiam in futuro. Ad 
hec verba beata virgo Cuthburga exultans in spiritu sancto inagnas 
cepit gracias agere omnipotenti. 



Capitulum octavum. 

Impetrata itaque post aliquod tem^Dus licencia felix et beata virgo 
Cuthburga, postposita et despecta omni imperiali gloria locum qui 
Wynburnia nuncupatur edificavit, ibique basilicam in honorem 



* cf. Tit. ii., 12. 



THE MARRIAGE OF ST. CUTHBURGA. 179 

connection, and loved him so greatly that he was deemed worthy to 
be made an Apostle and Evangelist, and was called ' that disciple 
whom Jesus loved,' and beyond every created being beheld the glory 
of the Godhead. And to him our Saviour, when placed upon the cross, 
commended His mother, a virgin to a virgin, and the virgin disciple 
served the virgin mother. Consider, therefore, how great is the glory 
of majesty, how great the excellence of virginity. By it the blessed 
Mary pleased God beyond all women ; by it God loved the apostle 
John above all men. Whosoever, therefore, desires to please his 
Maker and to obtain exceeding glory in the kingdom of heaven, who- 
soever jaants to see God face to face, let him study to keep a clean heart 
and a chaste bod v." 



The seventh Chapter. 

Then the king, aided by the jDresence of the Holy Sjjirit, is said to 
have answered the blessed Cuthburga in these words : — " All that 
thou sayest, most dear one, I know to be true, and I confess that pure 
virginity, if it be allied with humility, surpasses the other virtues as 
thou dost claim. Wherefore, as it inay be gathered from thy words, 
thou hast consecrated thy virginity to God, and hast determined, as 
it seems to me, to remain ever a virgin. It were unjust in me to bring 
to bear aiiy force against thy will, and to recall thy mind from so holy 
a purpose. Thou needest from henceforth be afraid of nothing from 
me, nor fear to suffer any molestation in this matter at my hands ; but 
I permit thee to maintain thy intended chastity, and may God grant 
thee such perseverance in thy holy enterprise that after the pilgrimage 
of this life thou mayest deserve to attain to the contemplation of the 
most high God. For me, too, do not cease to address kind Jesus with 
unceasing prayers that He may pour into me the spirit of His love, 
penetrated with which I may despise all worldly honours and riches, 
and may overcome all the snares of this present life, so that, living 
righteously and holily in this present world, I may in the world to 
come obtain the mercy of God." At these words the blessed virgin 
Cuthburga, rejoicing in the Holy Spirit, began to give hearty thanks 
to the Omnipotent One. 



The eighth Chapter. 

And so, after a certain space of time, the hajjpy and blessed virgin 
Cuthburga, permission having been obtained, and every imperial 
glory being despised and cast away, built that place which is called 
Winburne, and there erected a basilica to the honour of the holy mother 



180 THE MARRIAGE OF ST. CUTHBURGA. 

sancte dei genetricis et perpetiie virginis construxit. Cepit igituf in 
eodem loco venerabilis femina soli deo totis viribus deservire oracionibus 
nocte et die incumbere, elemosinis studium impendere, ad celestem 
patriam summo desiderio an(h)elare. Quis autem inter philosophos 
tarn eloquens ut eius digne valeat angelicam describere 
conversacionem ? Quis autem inter rhetores tarn lingue potens qui 
dignis efferat laudibus admirabilem huius beatissime domine sanc- 
titatem. Tenerum quippe et delicatum corpus multis affligebat 
inimicis, carnem macerabat ieiuniis, noctes et dies continuabat vigilias. 
Orabat sine intermissione, terram quidam corpore, set celum 
inhabitabat mente. Sacrificium deo spiritum contribulatum cotidie 
offerebat, in lacrimis et contricione cordis seijjsam in conspectu domini 
mactabat, lugebat autem iam pro peccatorum remissione, set pro 
desiderio celestis patrie. Quicquid deo placitum est ad implere 
satagebat, ipsumque offendere quantalacunque eciam cogitacione 
precavebat. Erga dominum et homines erat humilis, ad omnes 
mansueta et mitis. Fama igitur tante bonitatis pervulgata circuin- 
quaque et tarn vive suavitatis ubique disperso odore, ceperunt ad 
earn confluere puelle nobiles et matrone, que despecto seculari habitu 
et conversacione promittebant se velle regulariter cum beata 
Cuthburga deo militare. Quod videns virgo venerabilis supra quam 
dici potest gaudebat in domino, quia cernebat eas tam devote se deo 
mancipare obsequio. Factum est autem dei providencia ut plurima 
ibidem in brevi tempore advocaretur congregacio sanctimonialium ; 
quarum unaquaqiie aliam zelo iusticia et religionis ad dominicum 
provocabat famulatum. Tunc vero sancta Cuthburga magis ac magis 
cepit in timore et amore dei proficere, et quasi nichil prius egisset, ad 
virtutum incrementa vehementer nitebatur festinare. 



Capitulum novum. 

Intelligens igitur post hec dignimissima virgo deposicionis sue diem 
imminere, indesinenter cepit doinino et sponso suo gracias agere, et 
importunis precibus lacrimis et gemitibus ipsum rogabat, ne diucius a 
dulcedinis sue complexibus eam fraudare permitteret. Videntes vero 
alie sanctimoniales femine sorores sue eam infirmari, ceperunt 
vehementer omnes unanimiter contristari, et pro incolumitate eius 
assiduis oracionibus altissimum deprecari. Dicebant enim omnes 
malle se mori, quam tanto thesauro destitui. Ipsa quippe omnes 
materno affectu nutrierat, foverat et quasi filias uteri sui dilexerat, et 
immortalis vite viam et tocius sanctitatis monstraverat. Conveniente 



THE MARRIAGE OF ST. CUTHBURGA. 181 

of -God, ever-virgin. The venerable woman began in that place to 
serve God alone with all her strength, to call upon Him with prayers 
by day and by night, to give herself to the practice of almsgiving, and 
with very great longing to desire the heavenly country. Who amongst 
the philosophers is so eloquent that he can fitly describe her angelical 
conversation ? Who amongst the rhetoricians is so gifted in speech 
that he can express with fitting praise the admirable sanctity of this 
most blessed lady ? Why, she afflicted her tender and delicate body 
with many penances, she afflicted her flesh with fasting, and passed 
nights and days in watchings. She prayed without ceasing. She 
dwelt upon earth indeed with her body, but in heaven with her soul. 
Daily she offered up her afflicted spirit as a sacrifice to God, in tears 
and contrition of heart she offered herself up before God, she mourned 
for the remission of sins and throvigh desire for her heavenly home. 
She made it her business to fulfil whatosever is well pleasing to God, 
and she was careful not to offend Him even in the very least thought. 
She was humble before God and man, gentle and kind to all. The 
fame of her so great goodness was spread abroad everywhere, and the 
odour of such marvellous sweetness was spread all around, and noble 
maidens and matrons began to gather themselves to her, who, despising 
the ways and conversation of the world, professed theinselves ready 
to serve God under a rule with the blessed Cuthburga. And when she 
saw this, the venerable virgin rejoiced in the Lord with inexpressible 
joy, because she beheld them so devotedly giving themselves over to 
the service of God. And so it came to pass, by the providence of God, 
that in a short space of time a very large number of nuns was collected 
there, each one of whom incited her fellow to the service of God in zeal 
for righteousness and religion. Then, truly. Saint Cuthburga began 
more and more to increase in the fear and the love of God, and, as 
though she had done nothing before, she earnestly endeavoured to 
hasten on to a growth in virtue. 

The ninth Chapter. 

After these things the most worthy virgin, understanding that the 
day of departure was at hand, began without ceasing to give thanks to 
her Lord and spouse, and besought Him with instant prayers, tears, 
and groans that He would no longer suffer her to be deprived of the 
embraces of His sweetness. The other nuns her sisters seeing that she 
was becoining weaker, all with one accord began to be exceedingly 
sorrowful, and with unceasing prayers to beseech the Most High for 
her restoration to health. For they all said that they would rather die 
themselves than be deprived of so great a treasure. For she had 
nourished them all with a mother's love, had cherished and loved them 
as if (they had been) the children of her womb, and had shown them 
the way of eternal life and of all happiness. And so, one day, the 



182 THE MARRIAGE OF ST. CUTHBURGA. 

itaque dierum circa earn tota sororis congregatione tali eas adhortari 
dicitur sermone. Videte karissime sorores, * videte vocacionem 
vestram quomodo caute ambuletis, cum timore et tremore vestram 
ipsarum salutem operamini, redimentes tempus c[uam dies mali sunt. 
Considerate quam fallax sit mundus quem corpore et habitu deseruistis, 
et ideo in egyptum vnde existis corde reverti me velitis, set omnia 
custodia cor vestrum custodite, quoniam ab isto vita procedit" 
Attendite cuius persone estis, cui sponso consecrate et sanctificate 
estis. Ipsi carte desponsate estis cui angeli serviunt, ad cuius nutum 
vniversa celestia et terrestria contremiscunt. Si igitur tanto sjDonso 
placere desideratis, necesse est ut eius legem et mandata sollicite 
custodiatis, et que edit et prohibit cum omni diligencia precaveatis. 
Ipsum ergo dominum et sponsum vestrum super omnia amate, vosmet 
ipsa mutua caritate diligite, f honore vos invicem prevenientes ad 
eterne beatitudinis premia indesinenter suspirate. Ego autem iamdiu 
est quod J dissolui cupio et esse cum Christo, set nunc adimpleri 
desiderium meum sencio, quia lam mortis debitum me persolvere 
gaudio victura postmodum sine fine cum sponso meo dulcissimo. 
Vos autem quas mihi relinquo in presenti vita superstites satagite ut 
mei sitis per omnia imitatrices, et § c^ue vidistis ex me hec agite et deus 
pacis erit vobiscum. Hiis auditis sanctimoniales femine a minima 
usque ad maximam ceperunt vehementer dolore plangere, gemere et 
facies suas lacrimarum rivulis rigare. Quas consolans beata sic ait 
Cuthburga : Nolite karissime sorores nolite propter discessum meum 
flere nee gemitibus vestris exitum meum aggravare. Non enim 
moriar set vivam quia modo de corrupcione transibo ad immortalitatem, 
de miseria vado ad gloriam, de peregrinacione reverter ad jjatriam. 
Igitur si me diligitis successibus meis congaudete et transitum meum 
psalmis et canticis spiritualibus domino commendate, et corpusculo 
meo debita humanitatis officia persolvite. Sic est locuta signo 
dominice jDassionis undique munita et sacrosancta dominici corporis et 
sanguinis communione percepta pridie kalendas septembris migravifc 
ad dominum, cui ab infancia devotum indefesse exhibuerat famulatum. 
Sepulta est autem condigno honore in eadem quam edificaverat sancte 
dei genetricis basilica, ubi meritis ipsius plurima facta sunt miracula et 
multa infirmantibus prestita sunt beneficia, claudis gressus, surdis 
auditus, cecis reddita sunt lumina, operante Ihesu Christi nostri 
misericordia, cuius maiestas et imperium permanet in infinita secula 
seculorum amen. 

Explicit de sancta Cudburga virgine et regina. 

* I. Cor., i., 26 ; Ephes., v., 15, 16 ; vi., 5; Phil., ii., 12. 
t Rom., xii., 10. J Phil., i., 23. § Phil., iv., 9. 



THE MARRIAGE OF ST. CUTHBURGA. 183 

whole congregation of sisters being gathered round her, she is said thus 
to have exhorted them, " See, dearest sisters, see your calHng, how ye 
should walk circumspectly, with fear and trembling working out your 
own salvation, redeeming the time since the days are evil. Consider 
how deceitful is the world which ye have left in body and in dress, and 
yet ye wish me to return to that EgyjDt from which in heart ye have 
come out. But guard your heart with every guard since from that 
proceedeth life. Mark ye whose ye are, to what spouse ye are con- 
secrated and sanctified. Surely ye are betrothed to Him whom the 
angels serve, at whose nod all things tremble, both things which are 
in heaven and things which are on the earth. If, therefore, ye desire to 
please so great a spouse, it is necessary that ye keep carefully His law 
and commandments, and with all diligence are on your guard against 
what He hates and forbids. Him, then, your Lord and spouse, love 
beyond all things, be kindly affectioned one to another with mutual 
love, in honour preferring one another, aspire unceasingly to the 
rewards of eternal bliss. But as for me, I have desired to depart and 
to be with Christ ; but now I feel that the fulfilment of my desire is at 
hand, for I rejoice to pay the debt of death that I may live thereafter 
for ever with my n:iost sweet spouse. But ye whom I leave behind, 
my survivors in this present life, strive to imitate me in all things, and 
what ye have seen in me this do, and the God of peace will be with 
you." When they heard this the nuns from the least to the greatest 
began to be vehemently overcome with grief, to sob aloud, and to 
moisten their faces with streams of tears. But to console them the 
blessed Cuthburga speaks thus : — " Do not, dearest sisters, do not 
weep for my departure, nor make my death more difficult by your 
groanings ; for I shall not die but live, for I shall pass now from 
corruption to immortality ; I go from misery to glory ; from a pilgrim- 
age I return to my fatherland. Therefore, if ye love me rejoice in my 
success, and commend my passing to the Lord with psalms and spiritual 
songs, and pay to my vile body the rites due to humanity." So she 
spake, fortified on every side by the sign of the Lord's passion, and 
having partaken of the most sacred Communion of the Body and 
Blood of the Lord, she departed to the Lord on the last day of August, 
the Lord whom from her very childhood she had served devotedly and 
unweariedly. She was buried with fitting honour in the same church 
which she had built to the holy mother of God, where by her merits 
very many miracles were wrought and many benefits were bestowed 
on the sick ; the power of walking was restored to the lame, hearing 
to the deaf, sight to the blind, through the tender mercy of Jesus our 
Christ, whose majesty and sway remain for ever and ever. Amen. 

Here ends concerning Saint Cuthburga, virgin and queen. 



184 THE MARRIAGE OF ST. CUTHBURGA. 

In conclusion it should be stated that it is a matter of doubt 
whether the marriage of St. Cuthburga and her husband was 
ever really consummated or not, i.e., whether they separated 
immediately after the religious ceremony, or whether it was 
not until after some years of married life. We have already 
seen that, interesting as this MS. is, it is valueless as historical 
evidence, seeing that it was not written until more than six 
hundred years after St. Cuthburga's death. The Monkish 
Chroniclers, almost without exception, compiled their histories 
some time after the Norman Conquest, or four centuries after 
the date of the marriage, and consequently had merely 
tradition, or some older chronicles to go by. William of 
Malmesbury (c. 1125) says that the connection was dissolved 
soon after marriage ; Matthew of Paris (d. 1259) states that 
it was " during his life time ; " Florence of Worcester (d. 1118) 
and Ralph Higden (d. 1363) affirm that " before the end of 
life both for the love of God separated." The Acta Sanctorum 
states that Cuthburga was espoused to the King of Northum- 
bria, and " being released shortly after " became a nun, &c. 
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, under the year 718, chronicles the 
death of Ingild, the brother of Ina, and continues as follows : 
— " Their sisters were Cwenburge and Cuthburga. And 
Cuthburga built the monastery at Wimborne ; and she was 
given in marriage to Alfrid, king of the Northumbrians ; and 
they separated during his life-time." The Sarum Office 
Books, which, of course, would not be anterior to the last 
quarter of the eleventh century, commemorate her on the 
31st day of August, and she is described in the Sarum Kalendar 
and Sanctorale as " a Virgin, not a Martyr." 

This, however, at any rate, is certain, that St. Cuthburga 
was a Saxon Princess, the sister of Ina, King and Lawgiver ; 
that she was married to Alfrid, King of Northumbria ; and that 
by mutual consent she separated from her husband, either 
immediately after their marriage, or at some later period 
of their lives ; that she embraced the Religious Life, and, 
after being trained at Barking, she founded the Monastery at 
Wimborne and ruled over it as Abbess. There she was 



THE MARRIAGE OF ST. CUTHBURGA. 185 

buried, if Leland is correct, in the north side of the presby- 
tery, the body of King Ethelred, a century and a half later, 
being placed by her, though some time afterwards her body 
was translated to the east end of the high altar. The noble 
Minster of Wimborne, often spoken of as "the pride of Dorset," 
and " the glory of Wessex," which in its earliest days bore 
the name of the Blessed Virgin, at a later age was dedicated 
to St. Cuthburga ; and by this designation it is still known. 



Ecturus of Hitinfail in Dorset 
in 1912, 



By R. STEVENSON HENSHAW, C.E. 




S^^tS^- 



17 ROM the 70 returns which have been received 
this year I have selected 24 for the purpose 



of the averages and calculations contained in 

Tables 3 and 5, as against 20 such returns last 

year. The stations from which these returns 

have been sent are spread fairly equally over 

the whole county. 

The average rainfall calculated from these 24 stations is 

44" 624 inches, with an average number of wet days of 199-7, 

whilst the average rainfall calculated from all the 70 stations 

is, I find, 44" 41 8 inches. 

1912, therefore, as far as Dorset is concerned, was wetter 
than any year since 1872, the ratio, as will be seen from 
Table 5, to the 57 years' average, 1856 to 1912, being 132, 
against 126'5 for 1903, the next wettest year. 

However, taking England and Wales, or the British Isles 
as a whole. Dr. Hugh R. Mill has kindly informed me that 
1903 w^as wetter than 1912 as 128 is to 121 for the former, 
and 128 to 115 for the latter, the relative values being 
expressed as a percentage of the average general rainfall. 

It will also be seen from Table 5 that three years out of the 
last four have been considerably wetter than the average, 
and consequently, therefore, the average for the county has 
been raised. 



RAINFALL IN DORSET. 187 

The average rainfall for the past 57 years is 33843 inches, 
whereas at the end of 1903 it was 33' 753 inches. This 
raising of the average has the effect of lowering the ratio of 
each year to the average, as will also be seen from Table 5, 
the figures in brackets being the ratios previously given. 

I was unable to go back farther than 1898, as I have no 
records beyond this year ; but this information can be 
obtained, I think, from the appendix to that j^ear's report. 

August was by far the wettest month in the year, and will, 
I think, be long remembered by most of us. 

The average fall during that month was 7" 28 inches on 27 
days ; at some stations rain fell on 30 days. 

April was by far the driest month, and at three stations 
no measurable rain fell. Taking the average, namely, "11, 
it proved to be the driest month since February, 1891, when 
"04 was the average of 34 stations. The wettest day generally 
appears to have been the 29th September, as it is so recorded 
at 36 stations, followed by the 16th January at 10 stations 
and the 17th August at six stations. 

The 2-68 inches recorded at Swanage on the 29th September 
is the greatest rainfall recorded by any observer throughout 
the county, the observers at Parkstone and Branksome record- 
ing 2-38 inches and 2' 20 inches respectively on the same day. 

The maximum number of wet days was recorded at 
Broadstone, namely, 269 ; and the minimum of 138 daj^s at 
Fleet House, Chickerell. 

One inch, or more, was recorded on seven days at three 
stations, six days at three, five days at five, four days at 
seven, three days at 22, two days at 15, and one day at 11, 
whilst at two stations the rainfall appears not to have 
amounted to one inch on any day. 

Referring to Table 3 we find that the month of May is the 
driest month in the year on the average of the past 57 years, 
and October the wettest month, the proportionate fall for the 
two months being 58^5 and 123 respectively. 

In a large proportion of the returns sent in I have found 
errors which have simply been caused through incorrect 



188 RAINFALL IN DORSET. 

copying. It would be of great assistance, therefore, and 
save some considerable time if observers would kindly have 
their copies checked before sending them out, and I should 
be extremely obliged if in future they would do so. 

Observers' Notes. 

Abbotsbury, New Barn. — The rainfall for the year, 
namely, 38" 96, is 10" 55 inches more than the average of the 
last 14 years. 

Beaminster, Hamilton Lodge. — The Beaminster average 
for the 39 years ending 1911 is 37-79. The rainfall of 1912 
(47' 79) is therefore exactly 10 inches above the average. 
This fall, however, was exceeded by the 49*25 inches of 1903. 

Broadstone. — The night temperatures were high in the 
Autumn, and the year wet and sunless, with very few thunder- 
storms. 

Broadwindsor, Blackdown House. — 1912 was the 
wettest year I have known. I have kept a record since 1894. 

Broadwindsor Vicarage. — A little sn6w fell on the 1st 
and 3rd of February, and on the 19th of March. On the 
4th and 8th of March thunderstorms with hail occurred, and 
a hail storm on 21st October at 6.45 p.m. A partial eclipse 
of the moon was very clearly visible on the 1st of April. 

Buckhorn Weston. — 3rd March — A very brilliant lunar 
rainbow at 5.30 a.m. 4th March — A very strong gale more 
or less all day, and at 2.30 p.m. a sudden and sharpish thunder- 
storm. 

Chedington Court. — On January 18th, at 9 a.m., the 
snow was 5in. deep, and lin. fell after that time ; a rapid 
thaw set in on the 19th, and the snow was gone by the 20th. 

The lowest temperature was 18° of frost on the 3rd February, 
and the highest 86° in the shade on July 16th. 

No thunderstorms of any note were noticed during the year. 

The wet month of the year was August, with 8-25 inches ; 
the fall of 1-76 on the 17th August being the greatest for any 
24 hours during the year. 



RAINFALL IN DORSET. 



189 



The dry month of the year was September, no ram falling 
for 22 days, from the 6th to the 27th inclusive. 

Chickerell, " Montevideo." — Feb. 2nd and 3rd — A few 
flakes of snow each day. May 12th — Thunderstorm, slight. 
June 21st— Thunder and lightning a long way off. July 
13th — Lightning in evening. Sept. 29th — One flash of 
lightning and one clap of thunder. Oct. 1st — A distant clap 
of thunder heard. Oct. 12th — No rain, but there had been 
very heavy dews for several nights, which deposited a little 
water in the rain gauge. 

In addition to the 211 days on which one-hundredth of an 
inch or more of rain was recorded, there were no less than 39 
other days on which rain fell, but always in too small a 
quantity to be recorded. 

Creech Grange. — l-60in. of rain fell between 7 p.m. on 
the 23rd and 1 p.m. on the 24th of August. 

Thunder and lightning, accompanied by rain and hail, at 
10 a.m. on 26th December, and an exceptionally violent S.W. 
gale raged the whole day. 

Dorchester, Wollaston House. — The total rainfall for 
the year, namely, 48-90 inches, is 13- 10 inches above the 
recently calculated average for Dorchester — 35-80 inches. 

St. Giles' House. — 







Mean 






Max. 


Min. 


Highest 


Lowest 


Months. 


Sunshine 


Temp. 


Max. 


Min. 


Sun. 


Grass. 


reading 


reading 






° 


° 


° 


° 


° 


Bar. 


Bar. 


January . . 


46 


40-43 


53 


18 


85 


16 


30-44 


29-06 


February 


63 


42-43 


59 


14 


106 


14 


29-98 


28-68 


March 


9.3 


45-82 


60 


28 


123 


21 


30-10 


28-55 


April 


251 


48-56 


74 


25 


129 


19 


30-28 


29-55 


May 


191 


54-74 


74 


28 


136 


21 


30-19 


29-36 


June 


195-5 


67-20 


77 


35 


135 


29 


29-90 


29-17 


July 


160 


62-50 


90 


41 


139 


32 


29-99 


29-41 


August . . 


105 


55-85 


69 


36 


129 


29 


29-84 


28 90 


September 


155 


53-30 


71 


35 


124 


29 


30-19 


28-85 


October . . 


149 


47-55 


65 


26 


112 


20 


30-31 


28-98 


November 


38 


43-93 


58 


22 


98 


16 


30-11 


28-88 


December 


30 


44-29 


56 


21 


82 


20 


30-02 


28-80 



Mean Temperature for Year 
Hours of Sunshine 



49-764 
1,472 



Aremarkably wet and sunless year. Compared withl911 we had 600 fewer hours 
of sunshine. — W. E . AxFORD. 



190 RAINFALL IN DORSET. 

GussAGE St. IVIiCHAEL Manor. — On January 17th •43in. 
of the -OSin. collected was melted snow. 

LiTTLEBREDY. — January — A little snow on the 17th and 
28th. April 17th — Eclipse in cloudless sky. November — 
Brilliant lightning between midnight and 1 a.m. on the 
27th, in a sudden lull in the gale. 26th December — Thunder 
7 a.m. and violent S.W. gale. Two hundred trees blown 
down. 

East Lulworth Vicarage. — 1912, with 45-33 inches, was 
wetter than any year during the last eight years, and exceeded 
the fall in 1909 by 6-37 inches. 

The abnormal rainfall in August, 7-32 inches, fell in 24 
days. The only other such excessive monthly totals in 
recent years are 7' 93 in January, 1905 ; 10- 02 in October, 
1907 ; and 7-56 in October, 1909. 

The first snow fell on January 18th. It is rather a curious 
coincidence that no rain was recorded on the 13th of any 
month excepting December ('OS). 

Lyme Regis.^ — December 26th — Commencing about 3.30 
a.m., a violent storm occurred S.W. a little southerly, which 
reached hurricane force from about 5 a.m. to 6 a.m., and did 
considerable damage in Lyme Regis to roofs, chimney pots, 
&c., and lifting heavy window boxes from their places and 
dropping them into the streets. It continued, though much 
moderated, until noon. 

Parkstone. — December 26th — Very rough day ; lightning, 
thunder, rain, and hail stones as big as marbles ; some I 
picked up measured two inches round. 

E ASTON, Portland. — No measurable rain fell during 
April. 

There were 200 wet days, and a further 29 days when less 
than -OOSin. fell. 

Sturminster Marshall, Bailie House. — 3in. tube well, 
50ft. ; with a further 70ft. Ijin. bore unlined. Top of tube 
1ft. above ground. 



RAINFALL IN DORSET. 

Weekly record of water from top of tube : — 



191 



1912. 


1st. 


8th. 


15th. 


22nd. 


29th. 




ft. in. 


ft. in. 


ft. in. 


ft. in. 


tt. in. 


Jan. 


4 4 


4 li 


4 5i 


3 3i 


3 6 


Feb. 


3 8 


8 Hi 


4 1 


4 3i 


4 3i 


March 


4 Si 


3 9' 


3 lOJ 


3 3i 


3 7i 


ApriJ 


3 7i 


4 


4 5 


4 9 


5 


May 


5 If 


o 4J 


5 6 


5 9 


6 Oi 


June 


6 IJ 


6 2J 


6 4i 


6 6i 


6 8j 


July 


6 9 


6 9f 


6 Hi 


7 1} 


7 2i 


Aug. 


7 2* 


7 U 


6 11 


6 li 


5 6 


Sept. 


5 6 


6 


6 3i 


6 6i 


7 m 


Oct. 


7 8 


7 3J 


7 6J 


7 7i 


5 9i 


Nov. 


5 3 


5 7 


5 lOf 


6 1| 


5 9' 


Dec. 


5 7 


5 8i 


5 OJ 


5 21 


4 



Upwey. — A little snow fell on the 17tli January, 4th 
February, and 19th March. Thunder was heard on the 
11th and 12th of May, 22nd June, and 19th August ; 
lightning being seen on 13th July. There were six days 
when more than lin. of rain fell. 

Weymouth, Massandra. — With the exception of the year 
1903, with rain 45-23 inches, this year, 1912, with rain 4055 
inches, is the wettest for the past twenty years. On three 
days, viz., January 27th, September 29th, and October 1st, 
I measured over one inch, the amounts being r37in., 1.30in., 
and l"52in. respectively. Only three dry spells, 19 days from 
April 16th to May 5th, 24 days from September 4th to 28th, 
and 10 days from October 2nd to 12th. The temperature, 
with the exception of a cold period from January 28th to 
February 7th and a warm period from July 14th to 18th, 
was remarkably equable and mild. Vegetation in all forms 
flourished, gardens were most productive, in marked contrast 
to the year 1911. 

Winterbourne Whitchurch Vicarage. — 

Jan. — Up to the 25th the weather was very stormy and wet ; the 16th 
was a particularly rainy day, TSOin. falling in the 24 hours. 
Snow fell to the depth of Sin. during the night of the 17th. 
The highest temperature was registered on the 6th, 51° in 
shade ; the lowest for the inonth, during the night of the 
29th, lO''. 



192 RAINFALL IN DORSET. 

Feb. The first week of month was very wintry ; on the 5th the 

temperature never rose higher than 28° all day. A very 
sudden thaw set in on the 6th, and the rest of the month was 
mild and wet. The max. temp, of the month occurred on 
the 28th, 56° ; the min. the night of the 2nd, 17°. 

]V[ar. An exceptionally wet month for March. There were no less 

than 20 wet days, and there was a complete absence of E. 
wind during the month — an unusual feature. 

Max. temp, occurred on the 28th, 57° ; min., the night of 
the 19th, 30°. 
April. — A remarkably dry month, only 0-05 of rain registered. 

Max. temp, of the month occurred on 21st, 69° ; min., the 
night of the 30th, 27°. 
May. — Max. temp, of the month occurred on the 10th, 70° ; min., the 

night of the 2nd, 34°. 
June. — A cold, wet month, producing only eight fine days. 

On the 22nd a rather heavy thunderstorm passed from 
S.S.W. to N.N.E. between 9.30 and 11 p.m. During the 
storm two cottages were struck and burnt down at Hammoon. 
Max. temp, of the month occurred on the 22nd, 75° ; 
min., the night of the 2nd, 36°. 
jxjLY. — With the exception of a brief spell of hot weather from the 
13th to the 18th, the month was cold and damp, with 14 wet 
days. 

The max. temp, of the month occurred on the 15th, 88° ; 
the min. the night of the 8th, 42°. 
Aug. — This month will long be remembered for its clouds, its cold, 
and its continuous rain. There were only three days without 
rain throughout the month, and the rainfall for the month 
exceeded Sin. 

The max. temp, of the month occurred on the 25th. 67° ; 
the min. the night of the 27th, 35°. 
Sept. — Very little rain fell till quite the end of the month, but the last 
three days produced 2'59in. of rain. 

The max. temp, occurred on the 16th, 66° ; the min. the 
night of the 9th, 35°. 
Oct. — Both day and night temperatures were much below the average 
throughout the month ; on no less than 15 nights did the 
temperature fall to or below the freezing point. 

The max. temp, of the month occurred on the 10th, 61° ; 
the min. the night of the 4th, 25°. 
Nov. — Heavy hurricanes occurred on 10th and 11th, 16th, and 26th. 
Max. temp, of the month occurred on the 22nd, 55° ; the 
min. the night of the 27th, 22°. 



KAINFALL IN DORSET 193 

Dec. — This month will be remembered for its remarkably mild 
character. On no less than 20 days did the thermometer 
reach 50° and above in the shade, and on the 28th at Bath 
the exceptional reading of 59" was registered. 

On the 26th two rather heavy thunderstorms passed from 
S.W. to N.E. between 7 and 8 and 9 and 10 a.m., accom- 
panied with heavy and large hail. 

Max. temp, of the month occurred on the 28th, 54° ; the 
min. the night of the 1st, 22°. 

N.B. — The thermometers from which the above readings are taken 
are Negretti and Zambra standard Kew-corrected instruments, placed 
in a Stevenson screen, 4^ft. above ground, on grass. 



*Hi^ 



194 



RAINFALL IN DORSET. 



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RAINFALL IN DORSET. 



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198 RAINFALL IN DORSET. 

Table III. — Average Monthly Rainfall. 







1912. 


57 years, 1856-1912. 




Average 

of 24 
Stations 
marked * 


Proportionate 

fall (a). 

Difference from 

57 years 

average (6). 


Days of 
•dlin.or 
more. 




Proportionate 

fall (c). 

Do. corrected for 

inequality of 

days (d). 


January 
February . 
March 
April 
May 
June 
July 
August 
September . 
October 
November . 
December . 




In. 

5-61 
3-33 
5-57 
•11 
1-75 
4-05 
2-72 
7-28 
2'12 
4-64 
2-09 
5-36 


(a) (b) 

126 4- 30 
75+1 

125 + 53 

2-63 

39 - 19-5 

91 + 25 

61-7 

163 + 81-5 
47 - 38 

104 - ]9 
47 - 54 

120 + 10 


19-4 
21-3 
23-9 

3-1 
10-3 
19-2 
16-0 
27-2 

5-6 
16-5 
14-4 
22-8 


In. 

3-24 
2-52 
2-44 
2-20 
1-98 
2-25 
2-29 
2-76 
2-87 
4-15 
3-43 
3-71 


(c) {d) 
96 94-5 
74 77-8 
72 70-8 

65 66-1 
58-5 57-6 

66 67-6 
68 66-8 
81-5 80-4 
85 86-4 

123 121-0 
101 102-8 
110 108-2 


Year 


44-624 


1,000 


199-7 


33-843 


1,000 1,000 



TABLE IV. — Statistics of the Temperature of the 
Air, and of the Humidity and Amount 
OF Cloud., at Winterbourne Steepleton 
Manor at 9 a.m. Kept by Mr. H. Stilwell. 





Temperature of the Air. 


No. of 
Days. 
Tempre. 






















^IS 






I 


n Stev 


enson's 


Screei 


. 


On Grass. 


at or 
below 




















32°. 






1912. 


Averaees of 


Extremes. 


^ 




" 


■73 11 















^ 








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to 




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■3 


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t 





02 

a 










W 


h^ 




w 


h) 


> 




M 











o 


o 





















0/ 




January . . 


44-7 


34-7 


39-7 


52-1 


20-0 


32-5 


14-0 


n 


14 


94 


7-9 


February 


47-3 


36-1 


41-7 


54-9 


17-0 


33-4 


12-2 


9 


13 


95 


8-4 


March 


51-1 


40-3 


45-0 


55-1 


32-5 


38-0 


26-0 




9 


91 


8-3 


April 


57-4 


36-9 


46'7 


68-8 


27-0 


33-2 


21-8 


8 


12 


76 


4-1 


May 


60-9 


43-9 


51-9 


69-0 


30-5 


40-1 


26-0 


1 


6 


81 


6-4 


June 


62-6 


48-8 


55-2 


70-6 


38-4 


44-9 


32-0 





1 


84 


8-5 


July 


67-6 


52-7 


59-6 


86-0 


39-0 


49-0 


33-8 


. — 





82 


8-0 


August . . 


61-3 


48-8 


54-7 


67-0 


36-5 


44-7 


31-0 








85 


9-3 


September 


60-2 


44-0 


51-7 


67-6 


31-4 


38-3 


24-8 


1 


8 


80 


6-2 


October . . 


55-3 


37-2 


46-0 


61-0 


26-0 


32-6 


20-6 


19. 


18 


92 


63 


November 


49-2 


38-0 


43-6 


56-8 


25-0 


33-6 


21-0 


7 


14 


88 


8-1 


December 


50-1 


40-7 


45-6 


54-0 


22-4 


37-5 


15-8 


3 


7 


92 


8-6 


Year 


55-64 


41-84 


48-45 


86-0 
on 15 
July 


17-0 

on 

Feb. 3 


38-15 


12-2 

on 

Feb. 4 


62 


104 


86-7 


7-5 



I 



RAINFALL IN DORSET, 



199 



TABLE V. — Fluctuation of Annual Rainfall. 



57 years' average = 


100. 


tear. Ratio. 




1898 .. .. 79 


(81) 


1899 . 




. 88 


(90) 


1900 . 




. 103-5 


(104) 


1901 . 




89 


(89-8) 


1902 . 




87-5 


(88) 


1903 . 




. 126-5 


(127-7) 


1904 . 




. 102 


(102-6) 


1905 . 




79-5 




1906 . 




. 100 




1907 . 




98 




1908 . 




81-5 




1909 . 




. 110 




1910 . 




. 117 




1911 . 




92-5 




1912 . 




. 132 





N.B. — The ratios previously arrived at are given in brackets for comparison. 




anti ifirst jTlotocriiig nf plants 

In Dorset during 1912. 



By NELSON M. RICHARDSON, B.A. 




JpHE names of those who have this year sent in 
returns are as follows ; they are denoted in the 
Report by initials : — 




(N. M. R.) Nelson M. Richardson, Monte- 
video, near Weymouth. 
(E. S. R.) E. S. Rodd, Chardstock House, 
Chard. 
(W. H. D.) Rev. W. Hughes D'Aeth, Buckhorn Weston 

Rectory, Wincanton. 
(J. R.) Rev. J. Ridley, Pulham Rectory, Dorchester. 

(S. E. V. F.) Rev. S. E. V. Filleul, All Saints' Rectory, 

Dorchester. 
(E. F. L.) Rev. E. F. Linton, Edmondsham Rectory, 

Salisbury. 
(J. M. J. F.) Rev. Canon J. M. J. Fletcher, The Vicarage, 

Wimborne Minster. 
(E. E. W.) Miss Ellen E. Woodhouse, Chilmore, Ansty, 
Dorchester. 



FIRST APPEARANCES OE BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 201 

(G. R. P.) G. R. Peck, Muston Manor, Puddletown, 

Dorchester. 

(W. P. C.) W. Parkinson Curtis, ) Aysgarth, Parkstone 

(E. H. C.) E. Harker Curtis ) Road, Poole. 

Messrs. W. P. and E. H. Curtis are new observers as far as 
this Report is concerned, and have sent in valuable and 
interesting notes on birds and insects. The former was the 
author of the excellent monograph of the Ringed Plover, 
which gained the Mansel-PleydelJ Medal in 1906, and is 
printed at p. 188 of Vol. XXVII. of our Proceedings. Single 
notes from other observers will be acknowledged under their 
records. 

Note on Fish by (W. P. C.) and (E. H. C). 

Taken 15 Nov., 1912, in Holes Bay, Poole Harbour, by 
Mark Bolt and Fred Brown. 

Orcus (Thynnus) thy^mus. The short-finned Tunny — 
Length, 8 feet, nose to fork of tail ; girth behind pectorals, 
5ft. l|-in. ; gape, llin. ; fins, pectoral, 16in. ; dorsal, 
9|in. ; lower caudal, 19jin. ; tail, depth, 7m. ; anal 
dorsal, 17iin. ; ventral dorsal, 8|in. ; anal fin, 12|in. ; 
weight (estimated), 8501b. 

Notes on Rare and Other Birds in 1912. 

Hawfinch {Coccothraustes coccothraustes) . — Six seen at 
Buckhorn Weston, July 12-20. (W. H. D.) 

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker {Dendrocopus minor) seen 
Sept. 8 at Pulham. (J. R.) 

Lapland Bunting {Plectrophanes lapponica). — The follow- 
ing note is copied from the " Field " newspaper at the end of 
April, 1912, to which it was sent by Rev. S. E. V. Filleul, who 
observed this rare species near Wareham. Its occurrence in 
Dorset does not appear to have been before recorded : — 

Lapland Bunting in Dorsetshire. — On Jan. 30, 
whilst standing quietly in a rough field adjoining one of the 



202 FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 

heaths near Wareham in Dorset, I noticed a strange little 
bird, something like a meadow pipit, feeding hungrily on the 
ground quite close to my feet. I called up a keeper to look 
at it, and we both agreed that it was a bird which we had 
neither of us seen before. I remarked that if it had been 
summer time I should have supposed it to be a reed bunting, the 
dark head being very similar to that common summer visitor. 
When I got home I found a figure of it in Morris's ' British 
Birds,' and there can be no doubt that it was a Lapland 
bunting. Its remarkable tameness is not an uncommon 
characteristic of this species, which, like the grey phalarope, 
comes from the uninhabited wastes of northern lands, and 
this peculiarity tends to confirm its identification, about 
which I have no doubt myself. If not a rare visitor, it is very 
rarely observed, and, as I believe that this is perhaps the first 
notice of its occurrence in Dorset, I think it worth while to 
send you this short account of it. — F." [In Mansel-PleydeJl's 
" Birds of Dorsetshire," pubHshed in 1888, no mention is 
made of the Lapland bunting. It is an uncertain visitor in 
autumn and winter, usually found on or near the coast, and 
occasionally in large flocks. Seen oftener on the east coast of 
Norfolk and Lincolnshire, it is sometimes found in company 
with snow buntings. — Ed.] 

(This was mentioned Proc. XXXIIL, 234.) 

Grasshopper Warbler {Locustella ncevia). — Colonel F. 
G. L. Mainwaring of Wabey House, Upwey, near Weymouth, 
sends the following note : — " I saw and heard a Grasshopper 
Warbler singing (very similar song to some of the Cicadae I 
have heard in India) in a Berberis bush in our shrubbery 
yesterday between 4.0 and 5.0 p.m. A very shy bird : I 
could not get nearer than six yards to it." This species is 
also mentioned in Mr. Curtis' notes below. (See also Proc. 
XXXIIL, 234.) 

Little Auk {Merguhis alle). Mr. B. Edmund Freame, of 
The Chantry, Gillingham, Dorset, sends the following note : — 
" A Little Auk was picked up near this place on Feb. 2nd. 
It is impossible to keep this Arctic bird alive in England, 



FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 203 

apparently, and I believe the longest life at the Zoo has been 
but a matter of a few days. This specimen died during the 
night following its capture, and was given to me." (See also 
Proc. XXXIII., 234.) 

Shoveller {Spatula clypeata). — This duck seems to breed 
regularly between Wool and Moreton. Two pairs nested in 
the meadows at Wool ; one nest with five eggs was found on 
Apr. 20, probably the second attempt at nesting. The male 
bird appears to attend the female when she has her brood out, 
unlike the common Wild Duck. A brood of Shovellers was 
being disturbed by a little dog when the male bird came to 
the rescue and swooped down close to the dog, whilst the 
female fluttered away in the ditch. (S. E. V. F.) 

The following interesting Bird Notes are contributed by 
Messrs. W. Parkinson Curtis and E. Harker Curtis : — 

Ruticilla phoenicurus (Redstart). Small company of about 
one dozen seen on migration at Knighton, Canford Estate. 
Sept. 16th, 1912. None were observed the day before and 
none a week later. 

Acrocephalus phragmitis (Sedge Warbler) last seen Aug. 
5th, 1912, at Poole Park. 

Muscicapa grisola (Spotted Flycatcher) seen very fre- 
quently around Charmouth, June 30th to July 2nd. In 
the district of Poole and Morden heath lands, in fact 
anywhere on the sandy soil, it is not abundant. 

Motacilla campestris, Sept. 8th, at Osmington, two seen 
keeping company with M. luguhris (Pied Wagtail). 

Numenius phceopus (Whimbrel). First downward migration, 
two seen in Poole Harbour, Aug. 25th, 1912. 

Totanus hypoleucus (Common Sandpiper). First downward 
migration July 6th, 1912, Poole Harbour. 

Arenaria interpres (Turnstone). Four or five seen on 
downward migration Aug. 10th, 1912, Studland Break- 
water. 

Vanellus cristatus (Peewit). First large autumn flock, 
40-45, seen on Handley Down, near Cranborne, Dorset. 



204 FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 

Athene noctua (Little owl). One juv. reported by Head- 
Keeper Wren, Break Hill Wood, Canford. Identity certain. 
[This appears to be new as a Dorset species. — N.M.R.] 

Turdus merula (Blackbird). Feh. 3rd, 1912. A male, with 
a deal of white about it, niakmg it look like a miniature 
magpie, has frequented the yard of Mr. Hiscock, builder, 
Longham. Three or four primaries Avere white on both 
wings, head and sides of neck white, crown black, the second 
or third outer tail feather w^as pure white, the wing coverts 
were white for the most part, and the markings were nearly 
symmetrical. 

Feb. 3rd and Fel. 4th, 1912, brought in a very cold snap. 
The salt water lake at Poole Park Avas nearly frozen over, 
except for a little water that the birds had kept open. About 
mid-day on the 4th it blew a small blizzard from the N.E., 
and I took the opportunity of approaching the fowl. I 
noted about 10 Tufted Duck, about 10 Golden Eye, one or 
two Widgeon, 30 to 40 Pochard, and 600 to 700 common Coots. 

DendrocojMS minor (Lesser spotted Woodpecker). Feb. 
4th, 1912. One shot by a boy at Longfleet, who " thought it 
was a bullfinch devouring buds on a fruit tree." 

Feb. 10th, 1912. One male Linota rufescens (Lesser Redpoll) 
seen at Cock Wood, Canford Estate ; one Turdus iliacus 
(Redwing) seen at Break Hill Wood, Canford. 

Feb. 5th, 1912. Two Hawfinches and one Hawfinch 
{Coccothraustes coccothraustes) seen near Poole. (The two 
were seen by T. Rigler, jun., and others at Sandbanks, Poole, 
and the one was seen by Canon Okes Parish at Longfleet 
Vicarage, Poole.) 

Feb. 5th, 1912. Jesse Baker ("Sunbeam," of Poole) 
reports to us a large white falcon about the size of a Peregrine, 
which he watched for some time off Ballard Head. On cross- 
examination I assume that it must have been a Falco candicans 
(Greenland Falcon) driven south by the recent blizzard. (I 
do not offer identity as conclusive.) 

Feb. 17th, 1912. Turdus musicus (Song thrush) in song at 
Break Hill Wood ; Perdrix cinerea (Partridge), paired, 



FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 205 

Canford, Dorset ; Turdus viscivorus (Missel thrush), paired, 
Canford, Dorset. 

Feb. 18th, 1912. Parus major (Great Tit), in " song." 

March 2nd, 1912. Aegithalis vagans (Ringed Plover) are still 
in parties, not yet paired, at Canford, Dorset ; Columbus 
palumbus (Wood pigeon), last seen in big flocks. 

March 3rd, 1912. In the field between Bere Wood and 
Bloxworth were about 200 Turdus musicus (Song thrush) 
spread about with a few T. viscivorus (Missel thrush) with 
them. Vanellus cristatus (Peewit) were reported to me by 
the Woodman to have been "weeping " over their breeding 
ground for the past week. 

March 9th, 1912. Break Hill Wood, Canford, Dorset. 
Parus major (Great Tit) and Gecinus viridis (Green Wood- 
pecker) are paired. 

March 10th, 1912. Paludum Bog, Bloxworth. Gallinago 
ccelestis (Snipe). One pair observed at Bloxworth. I hear 
an unfortunate Dendrocopus minor (Lesser spotted Wood- 
pecker) has been destroyed. 

April 5th, 1912. Turdus musictis (Song thrush). Nest and 
two eggs. Regulus cristatus (Goldcrest), building. Aegithalis 
vagans (Ringed plover), not yet paired. 

April 6th, 1912. Turdus musicus (Song thrush). Six 
nests (three with birds in nest, one nest and two eggs, one 
nest finished, one nest unfinished) on Handley Down, Cran- 
borne, Dorset. About 25 Turdus pilaris (Fieldfare) seen in 
the tops of the tall beeches on Handley Down. 

April 7th, 1912. At Break Hill Wood, Head-Keeper Wren 
saw a pair of ScoIojmx rusticola (Woodcock). 

April 20th, 1912. Asio otus (Long-eared owl) seen at 
Canford. At Canford, Phylloscopus sihilatrix (Wood wren) 
first heard. At Canford, Anthus trivialis (Tree pipit) first seen, 

April 21st, 1912. At Bloxworth, Ruticilla phosnicurus, 
(Redstart), one seen. At Bere Wood, Daulias luscinia 
(Nightingale), first heard. At Bere Wood, Inyx torquilla 
(Wryneck), first heard. At Bere Wood, Turdus musicus 
(Song thrush), juv. first seen out of nest. 



206 FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 

April 28th, 1912. At Bere Wood, Sylvia curruca (Lesser 
white throat) first heard. 

April 30th, 1912. At Canford, Sylvia atricapilla (Black- 
cap) seen and heard. 

May 8th, 1912. At Canford, Locustella ncevia (Grasshopper 
warbler), one seen. 

May 5th, 1912. At Bere Wood. Nest of Sylvia salicaria 
(Garden warbler), structure finished, not yet lined. 

May 11th, 1912. At Bere Wood, Sylvia atricapilla (Black- 
cap warbler) nest and one egg. A few days prior to this a 
gamekeeper at Bloxworth destroyed a very fine female of 
Falco cesalon (Merlin) and nailed it up on his gallows. 

May 12th, 1912. Oaker's Wood, near Moreton, Phyllos 
copus sibilatrix (Wood wren) is by no means uncommon ; at 
Bere Wood it is met with very sparingly. 

May 18th, 1912. Turtur turtur (Turtle dove). Four seen 
at Canford, Dorset. 

May 26th, 1912. A pair of Coccothraustes coccothraustes 
(Hawfinch), evidently nesting in Bere Wood. Bere Wood, 
Caprimulgus europceus, one flushed ; but we did not search 
for nest, as we were too busy with insects. 

May 27th, 1912. Dendrocopus major (Great spotted wood- 
pecker) nested this year on the Canford Estate. 

Notes on Insects. 

By (W. P. C), Poole. — As a lepidopterist I found the 
season a failure. The weather was about the worst in my 
recollection. The heavy rains in the spring, followed by a 
short spell of fine weather only, were most detrimental to the 
larvae. The hot spell in May appears to have spoilt the birch 
stumps, and the death rate amongst the pupae of Sesia 
culiciformis was abnormal. Sesia cynipijormis, on the other 
hand, suffered from the wet June and July. It commenced 
emerging in May, my earliest is 18th May, and continued to 
dribble out until the later end of August. Larvae were 
exceptionally scarce, although SarotJiripus revayana got to a 
second brood in September. Hemaris fuciformis continued 



FIRST APPEARANCES OE BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 207 

feeding till the end of September. We obtained a single larva 
of Acronycta alni at Canford. The only larva approaching 
abundance was Dicranura furcula, of which we obtained seven 
in September in the Poole District. One Colias edusa only 
came under my notice. My time was much curtailed this 
year. I only did night work in Cambridgeshire for 10 days 
in the middle of July, when both light and sugar paid well. 
I was unable to do any night work in Dorsetshire except in 
the late autumn, when nothing noteworthy was taken, 
although arbutus blossom paid well. Camptogramma fluviata 
occurred at Poole on 8th Nov., 1912. 

General Notes. 

Poole. — Portuguese man-of-war {Physalia utriculus) found 
washed up on Sandbanks, Poole Harbour, in March. (G. R. P.) 

Chickerell. — A fine sun-pillar was seen on May 3rd about 
7.30 p.m., lasting a quarter of an hour or more. It was 
of about the diameter of the sun, and extended vertically 
upwards to a height of 20° or 25°, becoming fainter near the 
top. The light of it was of a pale, yellowish colour. There 
were a few clouds on the actual horizon, so that the sunset 
was not visible, and the pillar emerged above them. It 
differed from ordinary bright rays in being the same breadth 
all the way up, and not in the form of a cone. The moon, 
also, when near the horizon shortly after 11.0 p.m., presented 
somewhat the same appearance of a vertical pillar above it, 
but shorter and less definite. Possibly had it been observed 
when rising, the phenomenon would have been more distinct. 
(N. M. R.) 

Chard (E. S. R.). — Very wet January, with floods ; deep 
snow on 18th and 19th, which soon thawed. Very hard frost 
the beginning of Februarj', 20° frost here, and skating every- 
where for a week. The past five months, from November, 
1911, to April, 1912, have been a remarkably wet, unsettled 
time, and farming operations are in a backward state. On 
April 17th I saw the eclipse of the sun from mid-day to 



208 FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 

1 p.m. very well. I made several observations from Chard- 
stock House. The day was cold and raw ; wind light, from 
N.E. ; cloudy. The eclipse was seen well between the breaks 
in the light clouds. The summer of 1912 beats any record 
for wet and cold and no sunshine ; 1879 was the last very wet 
summer, but not to be compared with 1912. Floods and wet 
in Dorsetshire, Somersetshire, Wiltshire, and Norfolk from 
May to September, 1912. A good deal of thunder and wind, 
abnormally cold and wet from May to September. [From 
Meteorological Notes from E. S. Rodd's Daily Journal of 
Natural History and County Events of 40 years' close 
observation at Chardstock House, Dorsetshire — 1872 to 1912.] 
The Avettest August in England on record ; and much 
damage caused by floods, especially in Huntingdon and 
Norfolk. Fine cold September ; October was warm and 
bright ; lovely English autumnal weather up to 14th. Plenty 
of " Eddish " in the pastures everywhere. Partridges very 
patchy ; ditto pheasants ; hundreds drowned in the wet 
weather. Cubs very plentiful. Cows and calves high price, 
and more stock selling at good fair prices. Had my last 
dish of green peas on November 1st, grown in the open 
kitchen garden at Chardstock House. Potatoes not a good 
crop, but fairly sound. Roots fair, but no plant life has had 
sun or warmth enough this year, 1912. Apples and peas a 
fair crop, and abundant year for nuts and blackberries. 
Very few mushrooms, oddly enough, about here this wet 
season. Garden flowers have not done well, except sweet 
peas and begonias, which like much rain. I think the good 
nut and berry year may be owing to the wood in many trees 
and shrubs being thoroughly ripened during 1911, when we 
had a hot, dry summer. December 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th 
a heavy gale of wmd from the S.W. and torrents of rain 
fell at times. Weather very mild ; I have not observed 
the barometer so low for a very long time. On Dec. 31st 
I saw a field of wheat in " stitch " near Yarcombe Village 
returning from hunting. The year 1912 kept its character 
up to the end, and ended in wet, mild weather. 



FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 209 

PuLHAM (J. R.). — On the whole a very wet year, but some 
intervals of drought. From Sept. 1st to 28th practically no 
rain — only slight drizzle on two or three days. 

Thunder, March 5th ; on 8th, heavy peal ; May 12th, 
June 19th, 30th, a little ; June 12th, very violent for 1| hours, 
no rain ; July 4th, heavy ; 5th and Aug. 10th and 20th, 
slight ; Oct. 25th, a little. On Dec. 26th a furious gale, very 
heavy rains, few peals of thunder. 

Snow, Jan. 12th, heavy, quite six inches deep. Some very 
sharp frosts. 

Since the dry summer of 1911 squirrels have disappeared. 
They used to come to be fed at my windows. In adjoining 
districts, also, they have almost, or quite, disappeared. It 
would be interesting to know the cause. Was it want of 
water or disease ? 

On last day of 1912 (and for many weeks previously) we 
could gather bunches of primroses. At end of year also there 
were white violets in bloom, and many lesser celandine. I 
never saw such a profusion of apple blossom and hawthorn 
blossom as in 1912. Leaves were lost in bloom. 

Barometer reading : average for each month and for the year : 
—January, 29-295 ; highest, 30-2 ; lowest, 28-825. February, 
29-285 ; highest, 29-82 ; lowest, 28-59. March, 29-431 ; 
highest, 300 ; lowest, 28-45. April, 29-89 ; highest, 30-15 ; 
lowest, 29-46. May, 29-63; highest, 30-02; lowest, 29-12. 
June, 29-53; highest, 2984 ; lowest, 29-12. July, 29-62 ; 
highest, 29-87 ; lowest, 29-31. August, 29-451 ; highest, 29-85 ; 
lowest, 28-9. September, 29-837; highest, 30-12; lowest, 
2905. October, 29-497 ; highest, 32-6 ; lowest, 29-0. 
November, 29-17 ; highest, 30-07 ; lowest, 29-925. December, 
29-58; highest, 30025; lowest, 28-71. Average for the 
year, 29-518 ; highest, 32- 6 ; lowest, 28-45. 

Lists of the dates of First Appearances and First Flowerings 
are appended, as well as particulars of the prize exhibits of 
barley, wheat, and oats for 1912, furnished by Rev. James 
Cross, of Sturminster Marshall. 



210 FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 



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Homan OiJlas tiiscolJi^rcti in Dorset* 

Their Sites and the Relics found therein 

WHICH Throw Light upon the Civil Life of their 

Occupants. 

{Being the Mansel-Pleydell Prize Essay for 1912-1913.) 



By the Rev. Canon T. E. USHERWOOD, M.A. 



Introduction. 




Mms^^- 



d\\ be well at the outset to place before our 
minds as clearly as possible what it is 
our purpose in the following pages to 
endeavour to show. 

We are to examine the rehcs of Roman 

life in Dorset which have come to light, 

and to learn from them, as much as may 

be possible, what was the condition of the 

civil life of those Roman visitors to these 

British shores, and the extent to which that civilisation 

which they introduced operated upon the less-civilised Briton 

with whom Rome now for the first time came in contact. 

To the early Greeks all foreigners were " barbarians " 
without exception, and the term, originally Greek, was 
adopted by Rome, and under this name the Romans were 



ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 217 

wont to class all who were outside the Empire, or beyond the 
pale of Greco-Roman civilisation. 

This spirit is not altogether unloiown amongst us at the 
present day. There is a strong tendency in the British mind 
to look down with some contempt upon all " coloured '' 
persons. Yet many of these, as e.g. our Indian fellow- 
subjects, are frequently not inferior in intellect to the globe- 
trotter who too often despises them. 

Amongst those whom we class as uncivilised there are 
undoubtedly many degrees. So no doubt it was in former 
years. It is a matter of comparison. Thus, in order to form 
a true estimate of the influence of Roman civilisation in 
Britain, we have to consider the state of civilisation to which 
each of the races now brought into communication with 
one another had then arrived. 

I. — The Civilisation of Britain, 

It would almost seem as if the words of our own Thomas 
Hardy, addressed to the Dorset Field Club in 1884, had been 
in the mind of those who suggested for our study this year, 
" Roman Villas discovered in Dorset. Their sites and the 
relics found therein which throw light upon the civil life of 
their occupants." 

It will not be out of place to quote a most inspiring passage 
from that address. Mr. Hardy says — 

" It would be a worthy attempt to rehabilitate, on paper, 
the living Durnovaria of 14 or 1500 years ago as it actually 
apjoeared to the eyes of the then Dorchester men and women. 

. . . . Standing on the elevated ground near where the 
South Western Station is at present, or at the top of Slyer's 
Lane . . we may ask what kind of object did Dorchester 
then form in the summer landscape as viewed from such a point. 
Where stood the buildings ? Were they small ? How did the 
roofs group themselves ? What were the gardens like, if any ? 
What social character had the streets ? What were the 
customary noises ? Were the passengers up and down the ways 
few, or did they ever form a busy throng such as we now see on a 
market day ? These are merely the curious questions of an 



218 ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 

outsider to initiated students of the period. When we consider 
the vagueness of our mental answers to such inquiries as the 
above, we perceive that much is still left of this fascinating 
investigation which may well occupy the attention of the Club 
in future days." 

Yes, these are indeed questions to set one thinking. Yet, 
even if we were able thus to see Durnovaria as it appeared 
in Roman times, there are further matters to be taken into 
consideration before we can justly estimate the influence 
which Roman civilisation exerted upon the ancient inhabitants 
of our beloved Dorset, the Durotriges. 

We must try to ascertain something as to their mode of 
life, the kind of dwellings they occupied, the dress they 
wore, the tools they used, the arts and crafts they were 
acquainted with ; then we can better judge of their progress 
under Roman influence. It will assist us if we trace the 
history of those early years, from the first contact of Britain 
with Rome to the time of the final withdrawal of the Romans 
from our shores. 

Some of our earliest information is found in Caesar's Com- 
mentaries. His first expedition was made in 55 B.C. The 
conquest of Britain seemed to him a small matter. A few 
weeks of summer {exigua parte cestatis reliqua) were left, 
which he thought sufficient for the purpose ; but he found 
it a harder task than he anticipated. It was a " terra 
incognita" ; also he did not luiow his enemies' manner of 
fighting ; and so he sends C. Volusenus to explore. Repre- 
sentatives from some of the states arrive, promising 
submission ; after which Volusenus, who, by the way, never 
dared to leave his ship, returns to Csesar and reports. Csesar 
starts, and, we are glad to see, finds much difficulty in landing. 
In spite of their promises the Britons make a good resistance 
{pugnatum est ah utrisque acriter), but in the end submit, 
and Csesar returns to Gaul, after having much trouble with 
his ships in the Channel. 

His expedition in the following year, 54 B.C., meets with 
better success, and in his account of this campaign we learn 



ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 219 

more about the ancient Britons. As an effect of these two 
raids the southern tribes of Britain were regarded at Rome 
as vassals of the Empire ; but had the Britons themselves 
been asked they might have told a different tale. 

But our chief interest is to learn what Caesar has to tell us 
about the people. We have seen they were good fighters ; 
another point on which we may claim kinship, a foreign 
enemy at the gate united tribes which before were unfriendly. 
He siDeaks of the inhabitants as numerous, and living in 
dwellings similar to those of the Galli. (By another author 
these are described as cabins made of brushwood — virgeas 
habitant casas.) He describes them as wearing their hair 
long, shaving all but the head and upper lip, and staining 
themselves with woad {inficiunt vitro). For money they 
used rods, of iron or copper, of a certain weight. He credits 
them, too, with being excellent charioteers, though he says 
nothing about the scythes fixed to the axles ; Pomponius 
Mela, the historian, seems to be the only authority for them, 
and as it is unsupported by any of the numerous discoveries 
that have been made, we may, I suppose, dismiss it as a myth. 
Having their horses under perfect control, they had the 
mobility of cavalry with the stability of foot-soldiers. The 
coast-dwellers he considered the more civilised ; those 
living inland did not sow corn, they lived on milk and flesh. 

Nearly 100 years passed ere Rome took in hand the sub- 
jugation of Britam. It had been planned years before by 
the Emperor Augustus, but imperial matters occupied his 
attention, and it was left to Claudius, 43 a.d., to undertake 
the conquest. The Second Legion, under the command of 
Vespasian, afterwards Emperor, subdued the south and 
penetrated as far as Somersetshire. Within three or four 
years all south of the Humber was annexed, but fighting was 
contmued m the highlands to the North and West till the end 
of the 2nd century. 

Thus it is to the Lowlands, which were the first to settle 
down peacefully, that we must turn for scenes of civil life. 
Here it was that towns, villages, and country-houses would 



220 ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 

be chiefly found. This would seem to be a chief reason why 
our county is so rich in Roman remains. Many an old 
Legionary soldier, his fighting days over, would be glad to 
settle down in this, now peaceful, neighbourhood, far removed 
from war's alarms. He was in close touch with the Empire, 
from which only a narrow belt of water divided him. And 
the Roman civil system encouraged it ; lands in a conquered 
territory would be given to old soldiers ; Roman citizenship 
was not lost ; we see Camulodunum made a " Colonia," 
Verulam a " Municipium." 

Friendly intercourse would be established between Rome 
and Britam through the use which Roman generals made, 
as we learn from Tacitus, of British auxiliaries. 

The Britons were also skilful boatmen. Their " Coracles " 
mentioned by Caesar were a few years ago still to be seen on 
the Severn, though they are less common now. They are 
formed of canvas, tarred and pitched, stretched over basket- 
work ; they are light and easily carried. In these it is not 
unlikely that the fearless Briton may have crossed the Channel 
and traded with the Belgae, and picked up something of 
Roman civilisation in those hundred years between Caesar's 
raid and the final conquest by Rome. They also had their 
" Dug-outs," such as have been discovered in the lake- 
dwellings near Glastonbury. 

But the mention of Glastonbury reminds us that in the 
Lake- Village (Crannog or Stockaded Island) discovered by 
Arthur Bulleid at the close of the last centur}^, in the close 
neighbourhood of Glastonbury, we have an excellent intro- 
duction to the state of British civilisation just previous to 
the Roman occupation. The date is very accurately fixed 
by the relics which excavations of a very thorough nature have 
afforded. These are distinctly British, and pre-Roman ; 
anything of a later date was found in superficial strata, and 
therefore of later importation. Samian ware, an evident mark 
of contact with Rome, is conspicuous by its absence. No 
Roman coins have been discovered ; the only coin, of tin, is 
contemporary with the British coins of the beginning of the 



ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 221 

Christian era ; and lastly, the " Fibulae," or brooches, found 
are like the Gaulish brooches of Caesar's time. For all these 
reasons Dr. Munro, an expert, determines the date of this 
Lake- Village to synchronize with the date of Csesar's raid. The 
discoveries here are, therefore, of the highest importance in 
estimating the civilisation of the Briton at the time of the 
Roman conquest. 

The accurate manner in which the squared logs were 
morticed together, to which our attention was drawn by 
Mr. Bulleid on the occasion of the D.F.C.'s visit, are most 
remarkable, and show a great knowledge of carpentry. The 
bronze " Fibulae " show their knowledge of metal- work. 
Nor are these altogether devoid of ornament. Personal 
ornaments, too, are not wanting. But particular notice 
should be taken of the weaving combs which have been 
found in large numbers, made chiefly of red-deer antler, 
these proving without a doubt the knowledge of the art of 
weaving. Many fragments of frame-work, also, have been 
found, which presumably have formed parts of a loom ; so 
that we may consider the knowledge of weaving proved, 
although, from the nature of the case, no product of the loom 
has survived. 

Another interesting find at Glastonbury is a lathe-turned 
wheel- hub. This, taken in connection with the skill shewn 
in morticing, proves the early Britons to have been not 
unskilled in carpentry and the allied arts and crafts. 

Then as to their milling. We loiow they were agricul- 
turists (British com was exported to the Rhine valley in the 
4th century) and grew com, so it is natural to enquire how 
they ground it. Now sundry Querns have been discovered 
in various parts of the county ; one pair, from Portland, may 
any day be seen working in the Dorchester Museum ; another, 
found at White Staunton, is probably Roman ; then the 
upper part of a Quern was found at Bagber in a British 
Barrow in company with a coin of Vespasian ; that found 
at Tyneham is considered to be mediaeval ; but the most 
convincing evidence of British milling comes from Hod-hill. 



222 ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 

In an interesting address delivered to the Club at Hod-hill 
by Dr. Boyd Dawldns he describes his researches in that 
ancient British camp. He mentions the circular depressions 
which were noticeable. These he had discovered to be the 
bases of hut-dwellmgs, 6ft. to 7ft. in diameter. He had 
found the old hearths, the old utensils, and what is more to 
our purpose, the old Querns. 

Next, as to the age of these finds. Dr. Boyd Dawkins was 
fortunate enough to find in one of the huts a perfect skeleton. 
Now, the skull is an index to the age in which its owner lived. 
Let us here briefly sketch the changes which have taken 
place in man during his habitation of this island. First, we 
have Palaeolithic man, dwellers in the limestone caves, as at 
Brixham and Kent's Cavern, Torquay. Then the Ice-Age 
followed which swept him away, blotting him out, as it were, 
until he was discovered in our ownn. time, buried under a bed 
of stalagmite which must have taken incalculable years to 
deposit. After this, followed what is commonly called the 
Neolithic Age, showing an advance in civilisation ; his 
flint implements are better executed, he is an agriculturist, 
breeds cattle, lives no longer in caves, but in huts or houses, 
and in one point only seems inferior to Palaeolithic man, in 
that he has apparently lost the art of drawing for which the 
cave-dwellers were distinguished. Probably he was non- 
Aryan. The Age of Stone is succeeded by the Age of Bronze, 
and that by the Age of Iron. Now both these Ages — the 
Bronze and the Iron — belong to the Celtic domination. 
There were two Celtic waves. The first of these is identified 
with the Bronze Age, and is known as the Gaelic ; it advanced 
as far as Scotland and Ireland. The second is identified with 
the Iron Age, and is known as the Cymric ; it advanced to 
the East and centre of Britain, probably driving the Gaels 
before them, their knowledge of iron giving them, perhaps, 
the advantage. 

Now, how are these different races distmguished ? Chiefly 
through their burial customs. The Neoliths buried in long 
barrows, the Bronze Age in round barrows ; and the skulls 



ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 223 

found in the one differ from the skulls found in the 
other. 

The Neolithic men, buried in the long barrows, have 
Dolicho-Cephalic skulls ; i.e., the width from ear to ear is 
considerably less than the length from the eyes to the back 
of the head ; whereas the Bronze-Age men have Brachy- 
Cephalic skulls ; i.e., square and strong, the width about 
4-5ths of the length. Then as we pass from early to late 
Celtic, the transition being marked by the presence of iron 
objects, we notice that the skulls undergo modification, 
tending towards the Dolicho-Cephalic type, indicating, as it 
would seem, that Neolithic man had not been entirely 
extirpated, but that, on the contrary, he was much in evidence, 
and was tending to re-establish his type, as would be the case 
if Neolithic men were numerous. 

We see, then, the immense value of such a find as a skeleton 
in these pit-dwellings at Hod-hill, as we are able through it 
to assert with some confidence that we are examining relics 
of the prehistoric age, and that querns were known before 
the Roman occupation. 

The crucibles which the excavations at Glastonbury have 
brought to light show that our Celtic fore-elders were versed 
in Metallurgy, and many objects in iron and bronze, such as 
awls, gouges, nails, and portions of harness have been found. 
Weaving, too, presupposes spinning, and the evidences for 
this art are supplied by numerous finds of spinning-whorls, 
made both of tin and of lead. 

II. — ^The Civilisation of Rome. 

We have examined to some small extent the civilisation 
of our British forefathers ; we must now proceed to examine 
the civilisation of Rome at the period under consideration, 
and this we are enabled to do in a very remarkable manner. 

Anyone who has visited Pompeii will aclaiowledge the 
weird feeling that comes over one when traversing the streets 
of that ancient Roman town. Why, at any moment you 



224 ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 

would not be astonished were an ancient Roman to confront 
you ! You expect to meet one at every corner you turn. The 
place is alive with memories. There you may see the life of 
Rome depicted ; the shops, the theatres, the temples, the 
private houses both of the wealthy and of the poor ; all has 
been preserved to us in the present day, having been buried 
in the ashes of Vesuvius for the last eighteen centuries. Now, 
as Pompeii was utterly destroyed by an earthquake in the 
year 63 a.d., and was at once rebuilt, and then, only 16 years 
later, was buried out of sight in the volcanic eruption of 
Vesuvius in August, 79 a.d., we have here an exact record of 
the civilisation to which Rome had attained at the time, or 
very shortly after, the Roman invasion of Britain. 

The decoration of their houses exhibited the most refined 
taste. The walls were covered with frescoes or mosaics. 
What can we imagine more beautiful in the way of decoration 
than the frescoes on the walls of the house of the Vettii, the 
colours of which are as fresh to-day as when they were first 
painted ? The floors were inlaid with coloured mosaics, 
worked out in the most choice and elaborate patterns. A 
most beautiful example of Roman mosaic of about this period, 
or a little earlier, is to be seen in the museum "Alaoui," in 
the suburbs of Tunis. It has been removed there from 
Sousse, and it represents the " Triumph of Neptune." It is 
a noble piece of work, of splendid design, covering an 
immense area. But that which is considered by some to 
be the finest Roman specimen extant is one representing the 
" Battle of Issus." It was found at Pompeii in the " House 
of the Faun," being the floor of a sitting-room in the peristyle, 
an apartment probably used by the ladies of the family. In 
it Darius is seen flying before Alexander, who pursues him 
mounted on Bucephalus. 

The relics found in Pompeii are both numerous and varied 
in character. There are articles of ladies' toilet, includmg the 
safety-pm which is still in use, combs for the hair, hair-pms, 
studs, &c. Articles in glass, such as wine glasses, tumblers, 
chemists' jars, also a beautiful specimen of glass, cut like a 



ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 225 

cameo, representing a vintage scene. Then the surgical 
instruments, and the mathematical, denote a high advance 
in scientific knowledge. Also there are carpenters' and 
labourers' tools, as spades, hoes, &c. Kitchen utensils in 
bronze, truellce for decanting and drawing liquids, colanders, 
&c.. Amphorae of all sizes. In short, almost every depart- 
ment of Hfe is represented here, and shows the Roman to 
have been highly advanced in civiUsation, though, possibly, 
there may be detected a decadence from the high state of art 
which Rome had received from Greece. 

And nearly all these find their representatives in Dorset- 
shire. We are rich in mosaic floors, as any visitor to the 
Dorchester Museum is aware. Then there is the pavement 
discovered on Lenthay Common, now removed to the dairy 
at Sherborne, representing a sitting figure playing on a lyre 
with six chords, while a second figure is dancing and playing 
a double pipe united at the mouthpiece. Another was 
discovered at Fifehead Neville, and has been described and 
figured in Vol. XXIV., D.F.C. Again, there is the well- 
known " Venus pavement," now in the British Museum, 
which was found at Hemsworth, near Badbury, and about 
f mile from the Via Iceniana, which connected Badbury 
with Old Sarum. This floor is about 16ft. by 12ift. The 
pavement found at Preston is figured in Vol. XXI. of D.F.C. 
Proceedings. If we have no conspicuous object such as the 
Roman Baths of Uriconium, we have at least traces of the 
existence of such in the tiles and pipes which have from time 
to time been discovered. Flat clay, or pottery, tiles have 
been found at Thornford, and these may have been used for 
carrying hot air to the rooms, as at Uriconium. They would 
also serve the purpose of drain-tiles. In the same spot were 
also found roofing-tiles with, in some cases, the nails adhering. 
Tiles have also been found at Iweme Minster, and at the East 
Farm, Bradford Abbas. The Thornford find has furnished 
us with knives and tools. 

Passing on to ladies' dress, we find pins and brooches are 
common objects in our local museum, and special attention 



226 ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 

may be drawn to the beautiful glass pins from the Roman 
cemetery at Fordiiigton. These are described by Mr. Moule 
in " Dorchester Antiquities." A bronze hair-pin, with very 
delicate ornamentation, 9in. long, has been found in Dor- 
chester. (Proceedings, Vol. IV.) From Thornford comes 
a fragment of an Amphora, besides sundry knives and 
tools. Roman beads have also been found. One, of ex- 
quisite blue glass, was found deep in the clay at Norden. 
Others, together with Samian ware, on the site of All Saints, 
Dorchester. 

III. — Progress op Civilisation in Britain. 

Having now reviewed the civilisation of the Briton and the 
Roman at the period under review, we are in a position to 
judge of the effect of Roman civilisation upon the Briton. 
Our enquiry, I think, should lead to the conclusion that the 
Briton had a good deal to learn from the Roman. 

In the foremost place we should name the great advance 
made in their dwelling-places. Nowhere would the result 
of Roman civilisation be more self-evident than in the ex- 
change from the rude, circular hut to the princely Roman 
villa, square, stone-built, with its several rooms. The hut, 
as constructed by the Britons, was almost of necessity a single 
chamber ; and the change to a square building is now, in 
the Mission stations of Africa and elsewhere, one of the aims 
of the missionary, as it more easily lends itself to the pro- 
vision of separate rooms for the various members of a family, 
and so tends to decency of life. The best preserved private 
houses are to be seen at Silchester (Calleva Attribatum) ; 
the site extends over 100 acres ; and has been completely un- 
covered. Here we find two types of house ; one, a long row 
of rooms with a verandah in front, and frequently a small 
room at each end of the verandah, a common type in the 
colonies to-day ; the other, in which the rooms form three 
sides of an open square, and are connected by a corridor. 
One modification of the Roman type is to be noticed ; " while 



ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 227 

the houses of Italy were constructed to look inwards upon 
open impluvia as befitted a hot climate, the houses of Britain 
and Northern Gaul looked outwards on to the surrounding 
country." (Romanization, &c.) 

A further advance made possible by the exchange from the 
pit-dwellings, or wattle-built hut, to the style of building 
introduced by the Romans, was the heating of their houses. 
This, from the necessity of the case, was a novelty to the 
Briton. There was no place for it in his hut. In Uriconium' 
(Wroxeter, Salop) we have a fine example of a Roman, or 
rather what we should now call a Turkish, bath ; for there is 
clear evidence that the different rooms were heated to a 
different degree. Tiles for the passage of hot air from the 
cellar fires were clamped to the wall, in some rooms sparsely, 
closer in others, and again, in the hottest room they were 
placed in contact, so covering the whole wall. In Dorset we 
have abundant evidence of hypocausts in the tiles which have 
been discovered in various places, and which have most 
certainly been used for heating purposes. Moreover, in the 
villa discovered at Hemsworth we see the remains of the 
actual hypocaust in situ. 

Then from the Roman the Briton would also learn to 
decorate his home. The decoration of the floors and walls of 
the Roman houses could not but strike the simple Briton with 
wonder. The Greek historian, Dion, records the surprise of 
Caractacus when, as a captive, he viewed the stately buildings 
of the Imperial City of Rome and exclaimed ' You who possess 
all these things actually covet the shanties of Britain.' Nay, 
as we look upon them to-day, after the lapse of nearly 2,000 
years, do not such fragments as are preserved to us make us 
feel that we have not greatly advanced in that art ? The 
material used by the Roman builder in the construction of his 
mosaic floors seems, by general consent, to have been local, 
and not imported, so the Briton would readily learn to copy 
the Roman colonist, and his material was close at hand. In 
support of the view that he did thus copy we learn an interest- 
ing fact from Eumenius that in the age of Constantine ' skilled 



228 ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 

artizans abounded in Britain, and were fetched to build 
public and private edifices as far south as Autun.' (Roman- 
ization, etc.) 

The Briton, as we know from the Quern found at Bagber, 
was accustomed to grind com, but his method was as simple 
as that of the African to-day ; the Roman Quern or Mill was 
a great improvement which he would readily adopt. 

There is some uncertainty as to the introduction of the 
Potter's Wheel. Early British pottery gives clear evidence 
that it was made by hand, without the aid of the wheel. 
For the smaller vessels this would be a simple matter. For 
the larger ones it has been suggested that a basket would be 
used as a foundation, and the clay gradually built up inside 
until the whole was finished. Then, when fired, the basket- 
work would be burnt off, leaving the marks of the reeds on 
the outside like a pattern. It has been conjectured, indeed, 
that this may very probably have first suggested the orna- 
mentation of other pots made by hand. But on the other 
hand, the British Museum Guide (Iron Age) is of opinion 
that the pottery found in the Aylesford Cemetery, to which 
is assigned a date of about 100 B.C., was all made on the 
wheel and " shows a distinct advance on the rough hand- 
made ware of the British Bronze Age." It is thought, too, 
that traces of a Potter's Wheel have been found amongst 
the relics from Glastonbury. But whenever, and by whom- 
soever the wheel was introduced, it would greatly advance 
the potter's art, and we may at least give Rome the credit of 
teaching the Briton improvements in the art. 

Gardens — We have evidence from Pompeii, to mention 
only the house of the Vettii, of a Roman's love of a garden. 
We have also Pliny's description of his villa built at 
Laurentium on the shores of the Tuscan Sea, near the mouth 
of the Tiber. Writing on this subject Mr. Calthrop, in the 
" Charm of Gardens," says " Whether a Roman living in 
England ever built himself such a house it is difficult to prove, 
since, so far as I can find, no remains ®f such a place are to be 
seen. But when one considers the actual evidence of the 



ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 229 

Roman occupation, the yields given by the neighbourhoods 
of Roman cities, the statues, vases, toys, the amphitheatres 
for cock-fighting, wresthng, and gladiatorial combat, then 
surely there were gardens of great wonder near to these 
cities, where men like Pliny went to sit in their garden-houses, 
and enjoyed the cool of the evening after a day's work. 

Yes ! We have little doubt that the Roman colonist 
would have a garden attached to his villa, and moreover he 
would most likely endeavour to grow some of his old friends 
to remind him of home, as the English colonist does to-day 
in Africa or Australia. To this we probably owe the introduc- 
tion of some of our rarer plants ; and in this connection it is 
interesting to read in the " Flora of Dorset " (p. 37), 
" Leucojum Vernum may possibly not be accepted as truly 
indigenous, for although it grows luxuriantly in its English 
habitat, it has no nearer authentic home than the Cote d'Or 
and Saone et Loire. Devon and Cornwall share with Dorset 
the enviable distmction of possessmg the delicate, southern 
type plants Polycarpon Tetraphyllum, Lotus Hispidus, and 
Cynodon Dactylon." These and other plants may with 
great probability have been brought to our shores by the 
Roman settlers in Dorset. To Rome we certamly owe the 
Lettuce (Lactuca), both plant and name. Also in another 
department, the gastronomic, Rome used to be credited with 
the introduction of the Edible Snail (Helix Pomatia), but now 
I believe it is considered to be indigenous. 

Roads — The Romans were notorious as road-makers. 
These were made with such care that they have out-lived the 
ages, and their traces are to be found in this XXth Century. 
But the Britons, too, were road-makers to some extent ; 
their fame as Charioteers would suggest this ; traces of these 
British roads are undoubtedly to be found in our county ; 
though as with British earthwork fortifications so also with 
the roads, we doubt not that Rome utilised and improved 
them. 

Bridges — From roads the transition is natural to bridges. 
A great engineering nation like Rome must, sooner or later 



230 ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 

have introduced the Arch into Britain, and we see no reason 
to doubt, 2Mce Mr. Brocklebank (D.F.C., Vol. 29), that the 
bridge at Preston is Roman ; and if Roman, it would come 
within the scope of our paper, as Preston is one of the sites 
which has furnished a tesselated pavement, so that it may be 
regarded as an adjunct to a Roman villa. 

Then, a people who could produce surgical and other 
instruments such as Avere found in the ruins of Pompeii, and 
are now to be seen in the Naples Museum, had much to teach 
the Briton in the manufacture of tools. Already the Briton 
was advanced beyond the age when he had nothing but his 
flint implements with which to fashion his dug-outs, and make 
his spear and arrow heads. He was beginning to learn the 
use of metal, but a great impetus would be given by the 
advent of the foreigner. He had learned the art of Metallurgy 
even in pre-Roman times, as we know from the crucibles that 
have been found in Glastonbury. He had learned to forge 
his spear-heads and axes and implements of agriculture ; but 
from Rome it seems certain that he learnt coinage. 

In Caesar's time his money consisted of cumbersome bars 
of iron of a definite weight, and slightly varying in shape ; 
specimens of these may be seen to-day m the British Museum. 
And here, on the adjacent wall, is hung a case containing 
casts of British coins preserved in the Museum. But first 
there is a cast of a gold " Philip II. of Macedon." The object 
of placing these in juxta-position is to show the genesis of 
British coinage. In the Guide to the Antiquities of the Early 
Iron Age a plate is given of these early British coins, and one 
sees how the first coinage was almost a burlesque on the 
Philip II., from wliicli it appears to have been copied. To 
quote from the Guide, " The obverse has the locks of hair and 
the laurel wreath much exaggerated, and drapery added at 
the neck, while the reverse has a fret pattern in the exergue 
instead of the name of Philip, and only one horse is shown, 
the driver being placed above in the position usually occupied 
by a Victory on coins of Syracuse." The horse, however, after 
a time develops eight legs, and the Charioteer is resolved into 



ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 231 

a cluster of atoms. Coins of British kings are extant extend- 
ing over the last 30 years B.C., which show an increasing 
tendency towards Roman manners and art. The old barbaric 
survivals of the Macedonian effigies disappear, classical 
profiles are introduced, and the cornucopia, the eagle, and the 
lion sometimes make their appearance. (Political History.) 
It is interesting to note that the name of one of these kings, 
Dumnobellaunus, is preserved in a monument at Angora, 
in the heart of Asia Minor. On the side of a desolate Galatian 
hill stand the ruins of a marble temple of ' Augustus and Rome,' 
the walls of which bear an inscription recording the chief events 
of the 56 years of Augustus' reign : "To me fled as suppliants 
the Idngs of the Parthians . . . the kings of the Britons, 
Dumnobellaunus and Tim . . .," the rest of the name 
being obliterated. (Political History p. 27.) 

While speaking of coins it is well to remember that even 
the civilised world has only recently, so to speak, produced 
coinage. It was in the 7th century B.C. that the Lydians in 
Asia Minor introduced a stamped coinage, replacing the 
unstamped, weighed metal of the Babylonians. (Encyc. 
Brit.) So the Britons were not so very far behind the times, 
and they would prove apt pupils under Roman tutelage. 
British coins have been found, one of Allectus and one of 
Victorinus, on the site of the British village on Boveridge 
Down (Ancient Dorset p. 22), 20 of bronze or copper on 
Minchington Down, and others in various parts of the county 
(p. 279). Hod Hill furnished several British coins (p. 154) 
besides Roman from Augustus to Trajan. Dorchester is 
credited with but few, a gold coin from Maiden Castle, a large 
silver, a base silver, and a bronze (Dorch. Antiq. p. 48) but 
Roman coins are plentiful, from Augustus to Trajan. Coins 
from Gordian to Postumus have been found at Preston. 

But if the Briton learned many good things from the Roman, 
we cannot blind our eyes to the fact that, in all probability, 
he also learned some bad things. It is painfully certain that, 
along with their civilisation, they would impart also their 
vices. So far fortunately we have not to my knowledge 



232 ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 

unearthed anything which could give colour to this charge ; 
but the obscenities of Pompeii make one fear that such 
would be the case. It is the sad experience of the Missionary 
to-day. Civilisation is not always an unmixed blessing. 
It never can be a blessing at all unless it is accompanied by 
Christianity ; and our study of Roman influence on the civil 
life of Britain would be incomplete were we to leave out 
altogether the subject of Christian Missions. 

At the Council of Aries, 310 a.d., there were present three 
British Bishops, York, London, and probably Lincoln, proving 
the early introduction of Christianity. Whence did it come ? 
Tradition speaks of S. Paul himself as having visited our 
island. S. Joseph of Arimathea is bound up traditionally 
with Glastonbury. The first missionaries made use of, and 
to a large extent followed, the Roman roads ; and one of 
these we know traversed our county from Durnovaria (Dor- 
chester) to Sorbiodunum (Old Sarum). Traces of Cliristianity 
may be rare amongst us. If we are to trust antiquarians, 
no traces have been found amongst the innumerable Roman 
remains extant in this county. That may be too strong a 
statement. But the wonder is, considering the ruthless 
character of the Saxon invasion, that any traces at all of 
Roman civilisation are left to us ; and such emblems of 
Christianity as might be found would be the first to suffer at 
the hands of their heathen invaders. 

Yet even within the limits of our survey there is one relic 
which lays claim to be Christian, and is in keeping with the 
thought that some of our Roman colonists brought the Faith 
of Christ to these shores. There has been found, worked 
into the design of a tesselated pavement at Frampton, what 
has been said to be ' the earliest known emblem of the Christian 
Faith in Britain,' the Chi-Ro, the initial letters of the Name 
of Christ, and this lends colour to the assertion that Christian- 
ity existed as a new Faith in Wessex even during the life of 
S. Paul himself. It is no disproof that this emblem was 
associated with an inscription to Neptune, and a head of the 
God. 



ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 233 

IV. — Concluding Remarks on the Civil Life 
IN Britain. 

We are now able to picture to ourselves, faintly perhaps 
and only in dim outline, yet with some degree of truth, the 
civil life of the Roman colonist in those early years of the 
history of our county. Dorset is still held by Roman garri- 
sons, dotted about in good strategic positions. Many of the 
ancient British earthworks, as at Maiden Castle, Hod Hill, 
&c., have been strengthened and adapted to the requirements 
of the Roman Legions. But Roman and Briton in this 
South country are no longer at strife. War has travelled 
northwards and left our county to develop the arts of peace. 
The Roman is now free to build himself those villas which 
modern research is from year to year exposing to our view. 
We see those villas to have been equipped with all the appli- 
ances to which he had been accustomed in the luxurious city 
of Rome. He spared no pains in the decorating of his home, 
for he had come to stay. The floors were laid with mosaics, 
rich in colour and in design. The walls were adorned with 
frescoes. Baths of a most elaborate kind were added, furnish- 
ed with all the appliances of a Turkish bath. His rooms were 
comfortably heated, for our climate, especially in the winter, 
would feel cold to the southerner. 

Then on a summer evening, can we not picture him sitting 
in his villa garden looking at the shadows racing across the 
heath, or enjoying the cool breeze which comes to him from 
off the Channel, and watching the waves breaking, and dream- 
ing perhaps of his distant home-land across the water ? Or 
it may be that he is busy sowing the seed which some friend 
has just brought him from home, or watching his bed of young 
lettuce which he is trying to naturalise. 

Nor is he alone. There were no need for him to build 
such villas unless he intended to bring wife and family to 
Britain. These assuredly shared his voluntary exile, and 
have left us abundant evidence of their presence in the 
bracelets and brooches, the hair-pins and combs which have 
been found on the site of their dwellings. 



234 ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 

The Briton, moreover, was rapidly learning the arts of 
civilisation from his Roman neighbour, so that there would 
be a steady approach between the two nations. Friendships 
would be formed, and these might in time grow to closer 
alliances. Then if, as we have reason to believe, some of 
our Roman visitors were Christian, they would regard the 
native Briton in a new light. The more earnest of them, at 
any rate, would try to bring these natives to the knowledge 
of Christ, and here would be a new link forged binding the 
races together in a Christian fellowship. 

Other influences were at work tending to assimilate the 
races. We learn from Tacitus that Agricola, his father-in-law, 
encouraged the Britons to come into the towns, build houses, 
&c. The bath, and the luxurious banquet offered their 
attractions not in vain to the late simple hunter in the forest, 
and though, as Tacitus sarcastically remarks, " the simple 
folk called that civilisation (humanitas) which was really the 
beginning of slavery," yet at first it would have the effect of 
bringing Roman and Briton into closer contact. We know 
how in the end it sapped the virile life of the nation, and 
made them unequal, when Rome withdrew her troops, to 
withstand the Saxon invasion. 

If Professor Buckman (D.F.C., Vol. 11. p. 58) is correct in 
his surmise, we have in East Farm, Bradford Abbas, an 
example of a little community of British and Roman living 
together. The villa remains to be discovered, but " bits of 
pavement " have been found scattered about. But what has 
been found is a number, some five or more, of cooking stoves ; 
or they may have been used for firing pottery ; and the 
Professor considers the dwellings in which they have been 
found to have been occupied by Celts, the slaves or labourers 
of the owner of the adjoining villa. Were this the case, it 
gives us a fresh peep into the life of the Roman colonist. 

Another scene of Roman life in Britain we may surely picture 
to ourselves. The Amphitheatre, so essential an adjunct to 
the life of a Roman, was not wanting. Maumbury Rings, just 
outside Dorchester, has fortunately been preserved to our 



ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 235 

day. Dr. Stukeley calculated that it would accommodate 
close on 13,000 spectators. In the 18th century it was used as 
the place of public execution, and 10,000 persons are said to 
have been present at the last execution in 1705. A different, 
but not less disgusting, sight claims our attention. Some great 
national festival is at hand, and there are to be games in the 
Amphitheatre. The " Gens Togata " and majesty of Imperial 
Rome will show itself. High officials may even join in the 
contests. In Whyte Melville's " Gladiators," which we believe 
gives a faithful picture of Imperial Rome, the Patrician 
Placidus enters the arena as a Retiarius. Our Roman, 
clad in his Toga ; wearing finger rings such as have been 
found at Fifehead (at first a military distinction, then a 
Senatorial privilege, but afterwards extended to knights 
and other classes) ; will drive in his chariot to attend the 
show. The ladies of liis household will be there also. They 
will be distinguishable more by their ornaments than by their 
dress, for the Toga was worn by both sexes. They will 
appear in their gayest attire, wearing their Fibulae or brooches, 
and Armillse (bracelets), as found at Fifehead Neville, Brac- 
chialia (armlets) like that from Maumbury, Crinales (hair- 
pins) such as the beautiful specimen of bronze found at Dor- 
chester ; also may be seen Tores or cords of gold, worn round 
the neck or on the arm, such as had been introduced from Gaul, 
and are amongst the relics found at Neville. On the head 
would be worn Coronse (wreaths). 

But the greater number of the spectators would be drawn 
from the native population. In contrast to the richly dressed 
Romans, these would come in their rough dress made from 
the skins of animals taken in the chase ; the women, perhaps, 
wearing leather aprons, adorned with beads, much after the 
fashion of the African to-day. And then the show ! Gladia- 
torial combats ; fierce exhibitions of courage, strength, and 
skill ; crowned with the victor's wreath, or alas, doomed to 
the fatal penalty awarded to ignoble defeat. These, with 
various kinds of races, constituted in all probability the prin- 
cipal amusements which the civilising Roman provided for 



236 ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 

the purpose of reconciling the Durotriges to the yoke they 
had to bear. 

But we must curb our imagination. The Roman occupa- 
tion drew to a close. The Teuton conquest of Gaul early in 
the 5th century cut off Britain from the Empire. The 
Central Government ceased to send Governors, and the 
Roman Legionaries were gradually, and about the year 436 
A.D. finally, withdrawn, having occupied our island for 
nearly 400 years. 

But though the soldiers left, many a Roman civilian would 
remain. Ties of friendship, and even of kinship, had been 
formed which knit them in a bond of fellowship with the 
Britons ; and even amongst the soldiers we can well believe 
that Millais' picture is true to life, and that many a soldier, 
while ordered home, left his heart behind. 



BOOKS OF REFERENCE. 

Proceedings of D.F.C. from the commencement. 32 Vols. 

Days before History. By H. R. Hall. 

The Glastonbury Lake Village. By A. BuUeid and St. G. Gray. 
Vol. I. 

Pompeii. By Gusman. 

Ancient Dorset. By Chas. Warne. 

Wessex. By Walter Tyndale and Clive Holland. 

Political History of England (in XII. Vols.). By T. Hodgkin. 
Vol. I. 

Caesar. De Bell. Gall. 

Tacitus. Agricola. 

Uriconium. By J. Corbet Anderson. 

Dorchester Antiquities. By H. J. Moule. 

Guide to Dorset County Museum. By J. E. Acland. 

Catalogue of Sepulchral Pottery. By J. E. Acland. 

Guide to Early Iron Age Antiquities. By British Museum Trustees. 

The Charm of Gardens. By D. C. Calthrop. 

Flora of Dorset. By J. C. Mansel-Pleydell. 

The Romanization of Roman Britain. By F. Haverfield. 

Encyc. Brit. Xlth Ed. 



INDEX TO VOL. XXXIV. 



By E. W. YOUNG. 



Acland, Ccipl. J. E., xliii., xlvii., 1. 
Arachnida, Bdtish (1912), xlviii., 107 
Author's Publications on. 

108 
List of, 128 
New and Rare, 110 
Arch£eological Congres.s, Delegates' 

Report, xliii. 
Afssizes, Dorset, XVII. Century, xlvi., 

17 
Avebury, Church, xxx:. 
Temple, xxxi. 

Bankes, E. R., xlviii., 46 
Barclay, Rev. W. G., xli. 
Barley, Malting, &c. (Table), 215 
Beauliou, Abbey, xxvii., xxviii. 
Buckler's Hard, xxviii. 
"St. Leonard's Abbey," 
xxvii. 
Bellarmine Jugs, xliv. 
Birds, First Appearances, &c. (1912), 
200 
Notes on Rare, &c., 201 
Tables, 212 
Bloxworth, Chvueh, 42 
Bond, Nigel, liii. 
Bradford Abbas, Church, xxxvi. 

Cross, xxxvii. 
Brasses, Memorial, 158 
Brewers of Sherborne (1383), xlviii., 151 
British Association, Delegate's Report, 

xlii. 
Browne, Cornish, 1., liii. 
Butterwick, Biiried Oaks at, xlv. 

Cambridge, Rev. O. P. (Vice-President) 

xlviii., 42 
Came, Barrows, Damage to, xliii. 
Cecil, Lord E. (Vice-President), xl. 
Cerne Valley, Visit to, xxxix. 

Abbey, xl. 

Barn, xl. 

Church, xl. 

St. Augustme's Well, xl. 
Charles II. at Trent, xxxvi. 
Charminster, Chiu-ch, xxxix. 
Cross, xi. 



Ciccda, larva and pupae of, xlvii. 
Cistercian Order, The, xxviii. 
Clifton Maybank, xxxvii. 
Coker's Survey of Dorset, xxxvi. 
Committees, Earthworks, Hi, liii. 
Numismatic, liii. 
Photo. Survey, 1. 
Cranborne Chase, Earthworks at, xlvi., 
31 
List of, 34 
Notes on Plans of, 39 
Crosses (Dorset), 155 

Daniell, Mr., xxxvii. 

Dicker, Rev. C. W. H. (Editor and 
Vice-President), xxviii., xxix., 
(Death of)xxxv.,lvii. (Reminis- 
cence of), 42 
C. G. H., xliv. 

Digby, Wingfield, xliii. 

Dorchester, Plans and Sections of, li. 

Dundas, Ai-ch deacon, xxxix. 

Elwes, Capt. (Vice-President), xxvii., 
xxviii., xlix. 

Financial Statements, liv. 
Fletcher, Canon, xlviii., 167 
For.syUi, Mr., xliii. 
Froxfiekl Almshouses, xxxiii. 
Fry, E. A., xliii., xlviii., liii., 161 

Gerard, Thomas, author of Coker's 

Siu'vey, xxxvi. 
Gray, H. St. G., xxx., xxxi., xxxii., 

81 
Gundry, Rev. H. D., xl. 

Harbin, Rev. E. H. Bates, xxxvi., 
xxxvii. 

Harding, Stephen (Monk of Sher- 
borne), xxviii. 

Henshaw, R. S., xliii., 186 

Insects, &c., Dorset, First Appear- 
.inces of (1912), 200, 
206 
Table 214 



238 



Lepidoptera (Purbock), xlviii., 46 

Delenda et Corrigenda 
(Vol. VI., pp. 128-177). 
47 
List of, 52 

Mainwaring, Lt.-Col., xliii., xlvii. 

Mansol-Pleydell, Canon J. C. M. (Vic - 

President and Hon. 

Treas.), xli., xlix., 

liii. 

March, Dr. H. Colley (Vice-President), 

XXX., xxxiii., xl., xlv., lii., 1, 81 
Marlborough, Meeting at, xxx. 

Avebury Church, xxx. 
Temple, xxxi. 
Froxfield Almshouses, 

xxxiii. 
Knowle Chapel, xxxiii. 
Gravel Pits, 
xxxiii. 
School, xxx. 
Silbury Hill, xxxii. 
St. Mary's Church, 

xxxii. 
Littlecote Hall, xxxiv. 
Marque, Letter of (1803), xliv. 
Maumbury, Excavations at, xlvii. 

81 
Medals Competitions, lii. 
Meetings, Annual, xlix. 

Summer, xxvii., xxx., xxxvi., 

xxxix. 
Winter, xlii., xlvii. 
Members of the Club — 
Honorary, xi. 
List of, xii. 
New, XXV. 
Memorial Brasses of Dorset (Part 
VII.), xlix., 158 
Church Knowle — 

Clavell, 164 
Lytehett Matravers — 
Pethyn, 163 
Clement, 164 
Mappowder — 

Coker, 166 
Pimperne — 

Williams, 162 
Wareham, St. Mary's — 
Burges, 159 
Franke, 159 
Perkins. 160 
Moore, 160 
Woolland — 
Argenton, 161 
Minterno, xli. 
Montagu, Lord, xxviii. 
Morris. Sir W., xxx., xlii. 
Mortival, Roger do. Bishop. Inspoxi- 

mus of (1315-1330), 153. 155 
Moulo. Henry (the late), xl. 
Museum, Co'untv, additions to, xliii., 
1. 



Nash -Brown, J. W., xxviii. 
Newland, Stone Cross at, 155. 
Newton Surmaville, xxxvii. 
New Testament, Paraphrase of 
Erasmus on, xlvii. 

Officers of tlie Club, Past and Present, 

v., xi. 
Orcus {Thynnus) thynnus, 201 
Ord, Dr. W. T., xlv. 

Pentin, Rev. H. (Vice-President and 
Hon. Sec), xxix., xxiii., xxxv., 
xxxvii., xl., xliv., xlix., liii., 176 
Peters, Rev. A. E. G., xxxii. 
Petroleum Oil, Sou:'.ces of, lii. 
Pitt-Rivers, A. L. F., xli. 
Plants, Flowering, Dorset, Earliest 

Records (Dorset), Tables 210 
Pope, A., xxxvi., xxxvii., xl., xlvi., 
xlviii., 155 

F. J., xlvi., 17 
Pouncy, H. (Assist. Sec), liii. 
Presidential Address, xlix., Ivi. 

Anthropology and Arch- 
aeology, Ixxvi. 
Astronomy, Ixvii. 
Botany, Ixiv. 
Chemistry, Ixxii. 
Electricity, Ixxii. 
Engineering, Ixxiv. 
General, Ixxx. 
Geography, Ixxxvi. 
Geology, Ixv. 
Meteorology, Ixix. 
Obituary, Ivi. 
Zoology, lix. 
Prideaux, W. de C., xlix., 158 
Publications of the Club, xxvi. 
Rainfall,&c.,inDorset(1912), xliii., 186 
Annual, 199 
Monthly, 198 
Observers' Notes, 188 
Steepleton Manor, 198 
Tables, 194 
Ramsbury, xxxiv. 
Rawlence, E. A., xxxvi., xliv., xlv. 
Reid, Clement, xlix. 
Reports, Director Plioto. Survey, 1. 

Earthworks Sectional Com- 
mittee, lii. 
Editor's, 1. 
Secretary's, xlix., Iv. 
Treasurer's, xlix., liv. 
Richardson, N. M. (President), xxx., 
xxxv., xxxviii., xxxix., xlii., xliv., 
xlvii., xlix.. liii., Ivi., 46, 200 
Roman Villas (Dorset), lii., 216 
Roper, Charles, lii. 
Rules of the Club, vi. 

Fandsfoot Ca=itle, xliv. 
Scando-Gothic Art in Wessex, xlv.. 



239 



Sermon to Dorchester Gentlemen 

(1691), xliv. 
Sherborne Brewers, xlviii., 151 
Silbury Hill, xxxii. 

Societies, &c.. Corresponding, xxxvi. 
St. Cuthburga of Wimborne Minster, 

Marriage of, xlviii., 167 
Stihvell, H., xliii. 
Sumner, Heywood, xlvi., 31 
Superstitions (Dorset), 137 

Candlemas, 139 

Days, 143 

Months, 140 

New Year's Day, 138 

Weather Forecasts, 145 
Symonds, H. (Vice President and 
Hon. Editor), xliii., xliv., 1., liii. 

Trent, Church, xxxvi. 

Manor House, xxxvi. 



Udal, J. S., xlviii., liii., 137 

Upcerne, xli. 

Usherwood, Canon, xlix.. Hi., 216 

Weather Lore, Dorset, xlviii, 137 
Webb, E. Doran, xxx., xxxiii., xxxiv. 
Weymouth Half-crown (1643-4), xliv. 
Whitcombe Church, Sculptured Stones 

at, xlv., 1. 
Wickham, Canon, xxxvii. 
Wilton, Eev. T. G., xxxvi. 
Winwood, T. R., 1. 
Wright, Rev. T. Russell, xxix. 
Wyke Grange, xxxvi. 

Yeo Valley, Upper, Visit to, xxxvi. 

Bradford Abbas, Church, 
xxxvi. 

Cross, xxxvii. 
Trent Church, xxxvi. 
Wyke Grange, xxxvi. 



^